Beater and the Black Cats
by ObscureAuthorBrendan
Summary: Kirito was able to save the Black Cats from their demise, but where will they go from there? From innocent training to the end of the forsaken death game, read on to see how the Beater and the Black Cats fight to beat Sword Art Online. Rated M for swearing and for later chapters. Rewrite on the way. I don't own Sword Art Online.
1. Cover Blown

**Author's Note:**

**Hey, guys! obscureuser here! I got the inspiration to write this on a whim and just began typing on my phone, and before I knew it, wound up with a decent start to a story. For those of you who read the original version, then the second, I've made some changes but kept the same plotline. If you're just reading this now, then you're fortunate enough to not have seen the first two. It's my first Fanfiction, so let me know what you guys think in the review section. I don't own Sword Art Online, unfortunately. Enough of my babbling. On with the story! **

* * *

**_Babe, I'm leaving. I must be on my way  
The time is drawing near  
My train is going, I see it in your eyes  
The love, the need, your tears  
But I'll be lonely without you  
And I'll need your love to see me through  
But please believe me, my heart is in your hands  
And I'll be missing you_**

* * *

"Hey guys, is it really a good idea for us to be here..? I mean, it is a higher floor and we already have good hunting grounds..." I said warily.

"We'll be fine, Kirito," Sasamaru said with a smile.

"Yeah, why are you so worried? We can all hold our own," Tetsuo added.

"Okay..." I sighed. In all seriousness, I'm more worried about them than myself. I _want_ to tell them about potential dangers in this dungeon, but if I do, they'll suspect I've been here before. The last thing I need is for them to find out my real strength now. I mean, if they learn that I've been lying to them all this time about my level, what else are they going to suspect me of lying about? At the very least, I'd get kicked out of the guild!

Anyway, we were in the Floor 27 dungeon looking around for mobs to hunt. This morning our guild leader, Keita, went out to buy a house for us to use as our permanent headquarters and living space. Because of this, we figured it'd be a good idea to go earn some col for furniture and things of the like by hunting on a higher floor. The problem is, if they bite off more than they chew, I might not be able to save them. Even at my higher level. I've spent most of my days training alongside and getting to know the Black Cats that welcomed me so eagerly into their circle, so I don't want to do anything to screw that up.

Thanks to our endless time out on the field (and a few last-second saves on my part), everyone in the guild treated me like they'd known me forever.

First, there's Keita, our guild leader. He's about 165 cm tall with an average build and short, dark brown hair. He preferred using his two handed staff. Next, there's Ducker. He's about 150 cm tall with a light frame and fairly long, blonde hair who prefers daggers. After him, there's Sasamaru. He's also165 cm tall and a medium frame and long, curly brown hair who uses a spear. Next, there's Tetsuo. He's a tall 170 cm with a medium frame and slightly long brown hair who likes to use maces. Last but not least, there's Sachi. She's a little taller than Ducker at about 155 cm tall with a smaller than average frame and blue shoulder length hair. She uses her two handed long spear. As for me, I'm a fair 160 cm tall with long black hair and a small frame. _My_ favorite weapon is a one-handed long sword.

Much to my surprise, hunting in the dungeon went pretty smoothly. Don't get me wrong, there were a couple of moments where somebody wound up in the high yellow, but overall went off without a hitch. After about 2 hours, we had finally collected our goal of 15,000 col and everyone but me leveled up once.

It was really nice... I mean, during my solo days, I'd be out in the dead of night and wouldn't allow myself to rest until I leveled up at least once or twice. But seeing the rest of the Black Cats out here train so relaxed and consistent made me feel great. Their sheer closeness and friendship more than made up for iron discipline on the battlefield. Without talking, they had each others backs, and would often take a hit if that meant their friend didn't suffer.

"Ok, Kirito, NOW we can head out of here," Tetsuo said with laughter in his voice.

"See? Nothing bad happened, man. Now let's go tell Keita the great news!" Sasamaru exclaimed.

We began heading back to the entrance to the dungeon when all of a sudden, Ducker began running ahead of us like a fly to honey.

"Wait up, Ducker! What is it?" Sachi asked as we started following him.

"A secret door!" Ducker replied excitedly.

_Wait... secret door? Oh shit!_

"Ducker! Don't go in there! It's a trap!" I screamed.

Too late. By the time I covered half of the 30 meters to the door, he was already inside. Once I finally reached the door, the dagger user was picking away at the treasure chest that resided in the center of the room.

_Damn it! That idiot!_

The rest of the Black Cats met at the doorway with me a few seconds later. I turned back to them and barked out a stern order before I ran inside.

"Wait here! Do _not_ go into that room no matter what happens! I'm gonna go save Ducker!"

"What about you?!" somebody asked.

"Don't worry about me! I'll be fine! Shut up and stay put!" I called as the door closed.

As soon as I was in, a red blinking light flashed and several mobs began appearing from the walls. In seconds we were surrounded by dozens of Dark Dwarf Miners and Mineral Elementals. I quickly materialized a dagger I came across on the front lines and tossed it to Ducker.

"Take this and stay alive you idiot!" I yelled at him.

"Wait! I have a crystal!" He exclaimed.

"Don't bother; they're useless!"

In spite of what I told him, he had a blue prism in his hand the next second.

"Teleport! Taft!" He said as he held it in the air. Needless to say, it didn't work.

_Why do they never listen to me?! Maybe I should have told them my level._

I'd been in this situation in more than one occasion when the assault team was clearing the dungeon some time ago. There were a lot of traps here meant to kill players and this was obviously one of them. Though there were plenty of chests that gave a handsome reward, they were branded as too risky regardless of the payout. A shiny, new sword or riches are no good if you're dead.

"We can get out of here! Just do what I say!"

Thinking back to when I went through this dungeon, I remembered that there was one of two ways to leave this particular player trap: kill all of the mobs inside, or have a high enough thief-type skill to disarm the trap. The problem with the latter option was that most players never bothered with the skill, since it never helped in real combat. Well, _almost_ never helped.

"Ducker! How high is your lockpicking skill?!" I shouted.

"357/1000! Why?!" He replied.

_Damn it! You need at least 400 skill points to disable the trap._

"Keep fighting! I'll explain later!"

For the next hour, we cut, stabbed, and slashed away at the mobs until we emptied the room. Since I was much stronger than the monsters in the room, I was able to cut them down with little effort. Ducker, on the other hand, needed saving on several occasions. By the time the room was clear, he was left with only 3% of his HP. As for me, I had about 18%.

"Man, that was too close... I'd be dead if it wasn't for you... I can't thank you enough, Kirito... gosh I'm tired," Ducker mumbled as he laid on his back, half-finished potion flask in hand.

"Thank heaven we're both alive... Now come on, let's get out of here.."

Ducker let out a groan as he pulled himself up, then stretched his upper body.

"Hold on, there might be something useful in the chest," he protested.

The iron door to the room was now open, and the chest was completely open.

_Him and that stupid chest! All that work had better be damn well worth it... _

"We could sell the different things in there and put it towards the HQ... Sorry... It just would have been a waste to go through all that and leave the loot there."

"Hurry up," I said coldly. "Everyone must be worried sick about us back home."

Ducker nodded sheepishly and began heading towards the door.

_I swear, him and the others are going to get an earful for this._

* * *

**Two hours later**

**Location: Floor 1, Moonlit Black Cats Headquarters**

"You idiot! How did you _not_ think that was a trap?! It's a treasure chest in the_ middle of an empty room_!" I yelled towards Ducker out of anger and concern. He almost got himself killed! I mean, come on! A player locked up on the _first floor_ wouldn't have been so quick to run in!

All he could do is look down in shame. What could he say back?

"Kirito, don't be so hard on him..! He was caught up in the moment and understands that he messed up! Just look at him!" Keita said.

"You don't get it! Yes, you guys are strong, but you're still really näive! If you guys act on impulses and get yourselves killed, how you do you expect to join me and those on the assault team?!"

_Wait, did I just..._

_Oh crap._

"You... You..." Keita started, "You're one of the clearers?! All this time you lied to us about your level?! How strong are you really?! 30?! 40?!"

_Damn it..! How could I have been stupid enough to let that slip?!_

*sigh* "Level 51.." I muttered. The air stood still for what felt like an eternity.

When I finally looked up, everyone except Sachi was giving me a look of disbelief and betrayal.

_Why isn't she surprised? _

Can I blame them for hating me.? After all, Tetsuo was the strongest of the group, and he just got to level 28. If I told them the truth from the start, they probably wouldn't have been in that situation.

"I'm sorry..." I said softly, breaking the silence, ".. I didn't know how or when I was going to come clean about it... I just wanted to be a part of something nice... and I thought that maybe I can be a part of it and help train you guys for the assault team... since you guys are more of a team than the Knights of the Blood Oath or Holy Dragon Alliance... I'm sorry.. I better just go.."

"You damned beater! Never come back!" Keita called as I ran away from the guild house. I didn't really care where I was running; I just need to get away from here.

Through the streets of the town, to the outer walls, down the road towards Tolbana, and into the meadows overlooking the cities, I ran without looking back.

_How could a player of my numbers get torn apart by a few mid-leveled candidates for the clearing team?_

Before I knew it, I was in the spot where Klein and I trained on the first day. Tears in my eyes, I sat down near the edge of the cliff overlooking the Town of Beginnings. By now the sun had long set.

"Has it really been that long.. since this God forsaken game started...?" I asked myself aloud.

"Well, it's late June now, and this game started last November, so it's been about seven months," a voice behind me responded.

Instinctively, I drew my Teutonic Battlesword and turned to face the source of the answer.

"Sachi! What are you doing here..?" I asked as I put my sword away and wiped my tears.

_Thank God... Not an attacker._

"Making sure you did nothing stupid.. I got worried when you left, so I came after you," she said softly. "Are you okay? Why'd you leave like that?"

"I'm fine.. thanks.." I started as I sat back down, "Well.. None of you knew my real level... and I didn't tell you guys important info about the dungeon... I almost got Ducker killed.."

"It's not your fault!" She began as she put a hand on my right shoulder. "He didn't listen to you when you told him to stay out of the room. Not to mention the fact that you went in there and saved him.. which was both really brave and stupid of you to do that by the way.!" A punch on the opposite arm followed.

"Ow! Be careful... if I lost any HP you would've become an orange player," I whined, "But still... Keita would've never let me into the guild if he knew my honest level.."

"Yeah, you're probably right... but... I knew how strong you were," she said, sitting in the grass next to me.

_What?_

"The other night, when you were going through your menu, I saw your level.. and I was happy! I felt even _more_ safe sleeping next to you at night... I knew you had your reasons for not telling us, so I was going to wait for you to tell us when you were ready. But.. I can't help but wanna ask you now.. why didn't you tell us..?" She asked with a solemn expression.

"Well.. it's a bit of a long story."

"I have plenty of time," Sachi insisted. "All night if need be!"

_*sigh* _"Okay. As of lately, the front lines haven't been the place they started as. For the first dozen floors or so, they were filled with people who actually gave a damn about freeing everyone and going back home. There were leaders, fighters, and scouts who would dedicate dozens of hours each week to helping those still alive get back to their families; our cause was noble. Somewhere between there and now, most of the clearers lost their purpose. They became filled with greed, pride, and elitism. And who could blame them? They were the 'liberators' of Aincrad while other players cowered in their inns or within city walls. Though there are a good handful of players who haven't lost sight of the original goal, they make up a small percentage of the clearers. When I ran into you guys, I saw that you all were those players who want do be at the front to liberate those too young to fight or those who can't bring themselves to do so. You all are the kind of players who made up the original clearing team, and all you need is the XP and equipment to kick it in the front.

Clearing aside, I got ridiculously lonely at the front. From the start of the game, beta testers were given a bad reputation because others thought they were selfish and greedy. There were some like that, don't get me wrong, but a few bad apples ruined the bunch for regular players. 'Beaters' as they were called, were often shunned, turned away from groups or guilds, or plain and simply harassed. When the first boss raid came around, I found a way to take the heat away from innocent 'beaters' and became the living embodiment of one. Pair the bad rep with social ineptitude and you'll end up with a kid who makes hermits look approachable.

When I met you and your guild, I realized that none of you knew what I was, let alone _who _I was. I saw a chance to start fresh, fit in somewhere, and make _friends_ with good, kind-hearted people. Plus, you guys want to work hard to join the clearing team. Again, not for glory or riches, but because it's the right thing to do. When the elitist assault team sees mid-leveled players come in from almost nowhere and lead the charge, it could change the mindset of the entire team and help us clear floors more efficiently. _If _the Black Cats could make it there. As much as I hate to say it, the guild came really close to a demise today. Only God knows what could've happened if everyone rushed into the room and got killed.

I don't want that for you or anyone else in our guild! I want for all of us to help scout dungeons, plan boss attacks, and get everyone the hell out of this game and back to our families. The Moonlit Black Cats can really go places with the clearing team! You all are definitely more than capable than catching up to, then surpassing everyone on the front lines right now," I finished.

_I hope that made sense... I'd really hate to alienate Sachi too..._

"Wow... so you really think we can be as strong as the players on the front lines..?"

"Of course. At the rate you guys are leveling, you'll be seasoned clearers by Christmas," I said with a half smile.

"I'm glad you have so much faith in us, Kirito. But what level were you when you joined?"

_Good question.. I remember that I said about level 20 when I joined, but she knows that was a big fat lie at this point._

"If I had to guess... Level 40.?"

_ Now is she going to hate me?_

"Hold on, if you were only level 40 when you joined a month ago, how are you already level 51?!" Sachi exclaimed with a shocked expression.

"Well.. before you started sleeping in my room, I'd sneak out after everyone went to sleep and go clear out the dungeon on the highest floor.. I would stay out there either for 4 hours our until I was ready to pass out from fatigue, whichever came first. But you began staying in my room, so I didn't think it'd be best to leave you alone at night..."

"You know what? I want you to start doing that again, Kirito. On one condition."

"Are you sure? I mean, last night I woke up to you drooling on my shoulder and holding my arm. I wouldn't wanna take that away from you" I said as a half joke.

"Shut up..! That's not what I meant!" She started, while her face turned bright red. "And I didn't mean to do that..."

"Don't worry about it, silly. So what's the condition?"

"Well... I want to go train with you.. maybe it'll help me get over my fear of dying.." She said as she looked away slowly.

"Like you being with me to train, or me taking you places to train?"

"Well.. maybe a little bit of both.."

"Well... I'd be more than happy to.." I responded as my face grew a light shade of pink.

"Thanks, Kirito!" She said as she threw her arms around me, making my face about a dozen shades darker.

"Don't mention it, Sachi," I said with a laugh.

"Too bad, Kirito! I'll mention it if I darn well please!"

"Then forget I said anything," I countered.

"Haha, all right. Hey, it's getting late.. Can we go back to the guild house?" She asked as she let me go.

"Ummm... I think I'll rent an inn tonight.. I don't think I'll be welcome back there tonight.." I responded, checking the time.

_Wow! 23:13! I've been out here that long?_

"Oh ok. Well.. what time do you want to meet at the teleport gate?"

"I usually start at 2:00, but I guess we'll have to push it back an hour to get more rest before hand." One night a few days before I ran into the Black Cats, I'd made the mistake of sleeping for only an hour before heading out and passed out in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully, I had a high evasion skill and it was a medium to high floor, so nothing bad happened to me, but I wasn't going to risk that happening again.

"So 3? Ok! Can you walk me back to the house.?"

"I don't see why not."

We both walked to the town, her telling me stories from before I joined the Black Cats and me telling her stories from the frontlines.

"You're really reckless, you know!" She started after I finished my last story. "You had better be careful when we go training!"

"I don't think I can promise you that. How do you think I got to be as strong as I am? Besides, facing danger in moderation helps you get used to it and make decisions more effectively in the midst of it."

"Hmmm.. I guess you have a point.." she said with a pout.

"I know. Hey, we're here. I'll see you at the gate," I said as we reached the entrance of the HQ, "I'll be at the Queen's Tavern and Inn."

"I'll see you then," she said as the climbed up the steps into the house.

I checked into the inn about ten minutes later and made my way to my room. As I was taking off my battle gear and changed into pajamas, I found a PM from Sachi.

_Hey Kirito, I'm sorry if I woke you up. I can't sleep over here at the HQ.. is it ok if I stay in your room tonight.? I don't feel comfortable asking anyone else here. -Sincerely, Sachi_

I looked at the message for a few minutes and tried to think of a good response.

_Dear Sachi, I guess it'd be ok if you spent the night here. I'm in room 7. Just hurry if you're coming; I'll be up for about another 20 minutes.-Kirito_

Shortly after I sent the message, I began thinking about what I'd say to the rest of the guild tomorrow.

_What are they going to say? Sachi obviously doesn't mind, but I can't be too sure of the rest of the guys. About ten minutes of thinking passed when I heard a knocking from behind me._

"Sachi!" I exclaimed as I opened the door. "There's a second bed if you'd like to take it," I offered, letting her in.

"Actually.. umm.. can I stay in yours like usual..? It's helped me sleep better..." she asked as she looked down with a pink face.

"No problem. Whatever makes you comfortable."

As I lay down on my side of the bed, Sachi put her pajamas on and climbed in.

"Good night, Sachi," I yawned as I drifted off to sleep.

"Good night, Kirito."

* * *

**Three hours later**

_*yawn* is it 3 already? Why's my chest wet?_

As soon as I hit the bedside lamp, my face turned beet red at what I saw: Sachi's head resting on my sternum.

"Umm... Sachi.." I said as I began nudging her shoulder, "Wake up! It's time to go train!" She stirred a few seconds later, her face turning red-hot when she realized how she was positioned.

"I'm sorry, Kirito! I didn't realize I was like that.."

For lack of a better response, I changed the subject to our training. "Let's start on a floor ten levels below you. What's your level?"

"26. So I guess we go to floor 16?"

"Yup! Let's head out," I said as I equipped my battle gear. And the next minute, we headed out for the dungeon.

After I showed her a few sword skills that she could use, we headed out to find mobs. Since the mobs here are a lot weaker than those on Floor 27, she was able to take them on by herself while I sat down and watched.

I was pretty surprised at how well Sachi was throughout her first night of training; she had no signs of distress, and she even leveled twice .

"Ok, Sachi! It's 7:04, let's get back to the inn," I called out.

"Ok, Kirito!"

**Time: 13:27**

**Location: Outside the Moonlit Black Cats Headquarters**

*Sigh* "I'm not sure if I'm welcome back here, Sachi... Keita seemed really pissed off when I left... Can't we go and get lunch first?"

"Well maybe he's had time to cool off; he's not the kind of person to hold a grudge. Besides, we ate breakfast 3 hours ago!"

_Maybe she's right about Keita. Besides, the worst thing that could happen is me getting kicked out._

As we walked in, we saw Keita, Ducker, Sasamaru, and Tetsuo talking in the living room.

_Ok... here it comes..._

I braced myself as Keita stood up to speak.

"Kirito, I'm sorry. I went too far yesterday when I insulted you and told you not to come back. I should've thanked you if anything for saving Ducker and probably even the rest of the guild. I don't know what I'd do without them.. Thanks a lot, Kirito. I hope you can forgive me.." Keita said quickly with his head down.

_Wait, what? _

I looked over at the other guys, thinking they'd convinced him to apologize.

When they shook their heads no, I looked over at Keita again.

*sigh* "I'll forgive you," I started, "on one condition."

Keita picked his head up with a curious expression.

"What's your condition?" He asked warily.

"You let me train all of you until you can join the Assault Team on the front lines."

The rest of the Black Cats turned their eyes to me, all lit up with excitement.

"O-of course! When do we start?!" Keita exclaimed happily.

"Today. Right now, I'm gonna go to the market to buy something for all of us to eat on the road. The rest of you get your weapons repaired and wait for me at the teleport gate plaza."

"You heard him, guys! Let's go!" Sachi said.

About a half hour later, I met up with the guild in the plaza.

"Did you guys fix your weapons?"

"Yup. We found this great place called 'Lisbeth's Smith Shop' on one of the middle floors. She did a great job on my mace. My Xino Smasher is good as new," Tetsuo said with a grin.

"Awesome. I just might stop by there some time. Before we start, I just thought I'd tell you guys what we're shooting for. Right now, the front lines are on Floor 33 if I'm not mistaken, so most of the clearers are at about level 40. That means we need to do nothing but be out in the dungeons of higher floors 6 days per week, at least 8 hours per day. Sachi and I were out for 4 hours last night and she leveled up twice. Keep in mind that it gets harder to level as you get stronger. We work as a team every second we're out there; no superstars. Now let's go!" I said as I stepped onto the Telepad with the rest of them. "Teleport! Floor 18!"

* * *

**Date: 25-December-2023**

**Location: Floor 50**

**Time: 19:35**

For the past six months, the Moonlit Black Cats trained long and hard. Sure enough, they became strong enough to join the assault team just before Halloween, and got pretty famous in the mean time. Not because of standouts or sheer strength like the KoB or DDA, but because of their teamwork. As a guild, we've been a part of the past 8 boss fights, and today we celebrate both Christmas and our success.

Ducker suggested we did a Secret Santa thing this year, so I was out buying a gift for Tetsuo, as he was the person I pulled. His best mace shattered in the last boss fight against the Ant Queen on Floor 49, so I picked up a new one for him at Lisbeth's Smith Shop. We've all been been regulars to her shop since June, so Liz knew what I was looking for.

"Hmm... 20 minutes until the party.." I thought to myself as I checked the time. I was already level 72 by now, so I decided against going out hunting. I guess I'll go see how I could help out back at the guild house.

After the 40th floor had been cleared, we moved to the 35th floor to be closer to the front lines and hunting spots. Thankfully, things ended up working really well for us in Mische, and we've even held a few boss meetings in our living room.

As I walked into the house, I found Sasamaru setting up decorations, so I helped him until the party started. After a few falls from the ladder, we had green rope and little stars all over the walls and doorways.

Apparently, Keita touched up on his cooking skill while we'd been training, so he was able to prep enough food to feed half of Aincrad, NPCs included, and it looked amazing. All over the table, he left foods ranging from mashed potatoes to traditional curry!

"Ok, guys!" Keita said as everyone took their spots, "help yourselves!"

I got a rather large serving of Western-style steak, potatoes, rice, and tea to wash it down. For the next hour, we all ate, drank, and joked around before we decided to hand out presents. Once all the plates were put away in the sink and leftovers put away, we all made our way to the living room, where we each retrieved the gift we were to give.

"Okay, I wanna go first. Tetsuo, I know how upset you were when your Kodora Hammer shattered, so I got you this. I hope you like it," I said as I handed him the Haganeeru Club. His eyes widened with excitement as he took the mace from my hands.

"Ahh! Kirito! This is awesome!" He said as he checked the stat window. "It's got twice the durability and every stat is at least 20% higher than my old one! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"I'm glad you like it!" I said as I patted his back.

Keita went next, he got Ducker a new cloak and Ebon Dagger; Ducker gave Keita a new spear in return. Sasamaru followed, giving Sachi a pair of Lizard Skin boots that raised her Speed stat. Tetsuo came after him. He gave Sasamaru a ring that raised both Strength and Agility.

Last, but not least, Sachi. She looked rather nervous as she materialized a long, black coat.

"I figured you'd been wanting a new coat... I hope you like it," She said as she handed me the Bomanda Skin Coat. It looked a lot like my old Coat of Midnight, but had a higher Hiding skill boost.

"Sachi! This is awesome! Thank you! How'd you know I've been wanting a new coat?"

"I saw the way you got when we walked by player shops.. So I'm guessing you liked it?" she replied with a blush.

"Of course! Thank you!"

We were still messing around for about a half hour and talked about how far we've come with the assault team. At about 22:00 we finally called it and began going to our rooms. I stayed behind and cleaned up with Ducker, then went to my room after we were done.

I changed into my pajamas and climbed into my bed when I heard a knock on my room door.

"Come in," I called out.

The door opened and an all too familiar face was there.

"Hey, Kirito.. can I stay in here for a bit.?" Sachi asked from the doorway.

Ever since the Moonlit Black Cats joined the clearing team, Sachi became more comfortable in her own room, so it was a bit of a surprise hearing her request.

"Umm, sure," I said as I sat up in my bed, "what is it?"

"Well... I wanted to come in and thank you for everything. Saving us six months ago, saving Ducker, training me and the rest of the guild, and saving me in all those boss fights..."

"It's no problem, the pleasure was mine," I started, "but why bring all that up now?"

"Because... It's Christmas, and we're celebrating the things the guild has done. We couldn't have gotten as far as we have if you didn't come in and have everyone train the way we did. Assuming we would have made it out of the Ant's Nest when we met. I'm glad that you've been with us for all this time, and I also wanted to say that I can't wait to see where else the six of us go!"

_Oh man... about that..._

"It feels great to know that you guys value me that much... but I have something I need to tell you and everyone else... I need to leave the guild... soon if not tomorrow.."

"W-What.?! Why?! You can't leave m-us!" She started as she looked down. "Why do you have to leave? I thought you loved the company that the five of us offered... You're one of us, for crying out loud!"

*Sigh* "The day I saved Ducker, I told you guys that I joined to help you all become a part of the assault team. You guys have helped clear the past 8 floors, and Sasamaru even got the last attacking bonus on one of them. All of you are much stronger now. You don't need my help anymore.. my job is done."

_It's not like I want to leave... I care about all of them too much to go, Sachi especially. But sometimes I pushed them too far during training or made a bad decision in a boss raid and nearly got them and others killed. As great as it is to be around them, I don't want to be the reason they fall. _

Honestly, I miss having her in my room and finding her sleeping either right next to me or partially on me. Sometimes, I'd even put my arm around her. At the same time, I have to go for the better. I don't want my reckless, arrogant nature putting them in great danger. As much as I want to stay and protect them, I feel like I can't.

"Kirito... please don't leave.." Sachi said as she sat next to me, "It's been really great having you around and none of us would want you to go..."

"You don't get it..! I'm reckless! I'm arrogant! I'm overconfident in myself! I'm going to get somebody killed if I stay!" *Sigh* "Actually, I think I'll go to an inn for tonight.. I'll be back in the morning to explain everything to the rest of them."

I stood up and opened my menu to equip my street clothes.

"I'll see you then."

I turned to leave the room when all of a sudden I felt a strong grip on my wrist spin me around.

"You're not going anywhere.!" Sachi said with her face showing less confidence than her voice.

_Damn it, why does this have to get so frustrating? Why couldn't she see I'm trying to protect not only her, but the whole guild?_

"Oh yeah?! Why should I stay here?! Do you _want_ to get killed because of me?"

"Because... Because..." she stammered.

"Because why?!" I demanded.

As if her actions would express her thoughts better than words, she pulled me into a tight hug and pressed her lips against mine.

_W-what is she doing?_

At first, I thought of pulling away, but something about the way she embraced me made me pull her in closer. We both stood there in that position for a minute or two before we pulled apart, gasping for air.

"I don't want you to leave because.." Sachi began after we caught our breath, "because I've started falling in love you.. and I don't want to be away from you. If you go... something bad can happen to you, and I don't want that!"

I stood there in silence, still in her embrace, and desperately trying to think of a response.

_What in the world could I say back? How do I know she's not just saying that so I could stay? And what am I supposed to do about those feelings?_

After an agonizing thirty seconds, I finally opened my mouth to talk.

_Don't screw this up, Kirito._

"Sachi, I'm going to be completely honest with you, I don't know what to say. I really like you.. I think you're really nice, beautiful, but above all, a great person to be around. I do have feelings for you, but I don't know they're the same feelings you have for me. I want you to be safe. I want you to see the real world again. I can't help but be afraid that I'll be a reason to prevent that. That's why I need to leave. I hope you understand." I said softly as I hugged her around her sides. She didn't respond for about a minute or so, with her sobs and sniffles being the only sounds breaking the silence. Soon after, she finally spoke up.

"I understand.. Could you stay one more night..? For my sake? To say goodbye for now.?"

She looked at me with an expression I hadn't seen since first told me of her fear of dying.

"I'll stay one more night," I began, "and if you want to stay here.. you're more than welcome to."

"Y-you mean it.?"

I nodded my head yes.

"Thank you!" she exclaimed as she tucked her tear-stained face into my shoulder.

_Don't worry about it... If it makes my leaving any easier... And gives me a positive way to say goodbye to you._

"So.. you like me, but it's not quite love..?"

"I guess you can say that... I wish I could do a better job of explaining it," I said as we separated and crawled under the covers.

"Ok... I understand."

Sachi quickly changed into her light blue night shirt and sweatpants, adjusted herself under the blanket, then turned over to face me.

"Hey.. umm.. can you," *sniffle* "Hold me..?"

I rolled onto my side to face her back.

"Of course, if that's what you want. Honestly, I would do that a few times when I'd find you clutching my arm in the middle of the night." I said with a blush as I wrapped my right arm under her pillow and pulled her closer with my left.

"I know," she said as she rested her head on my shoulder, "I wanted to ask you about that, but I thought it'd be better if I left it alone. Even if you don't quite love me, I'll wait for you. As long as it takes."

"I'll let you know when that happens," I said with a smile.

"Promise.?"

"I promise," I responded preceding a kiss to her forehead. "Goodnight, Sachi."

"Goodnight, Kirito."

_Sweet dreams, Sachi... Hopefully, I won't be out permanently and I could see everyone outside of combat._

* * *

**Time: 0913  
Date: 26 December 2023**

"I'm sorry, but it's for the best," I responded solemnly.

"But Kirito.." Sachi responded.

After Sachi and I woke up, we changed out of our pajamas and headed down to the living room. The entire way down, she kept begging and trying to convince me to stay..

Ducker and Tetsuo were in the kitchen finishing their breakfast, and Sasamaru was reading Argo's weekly newspaper in the corner of the living room.

"Where's Keita?" I asked.

"He's still asleep. Do you need him for something?" Sasamaru said.

"I'll go get him. I need to tell everyone something," I responded softly.

_ Why does it have to be so hard?_

After I brought Keita downstairs, I gathered everyone on the sofas in the living room. I hadn't even started and Sachi already had tears forming in her eyes.

"Guys.. I need to leave the guild. Today. I don't want for you guys to be in serious danger and not make it under my watch. I'm afraid that I won't be able to protect you guys when we go hunting or in boss fights and I feel an obligation to do so because of my level."

_Find a better wording, you idiot! You're sounding like an asshole!_

"Besides, you guys made it to the clearing team like I'd wanted you all to in June. My purpose has been served, there's nothing for me to do anymore. I can't help but feel that at this point I could only do more harm than good," I said slowly and calmly. They all looked at me in silence for what seemed like forever.

"K-kirito, you can't! You're one of us.!" Keita said.

"I'm sorry.. it's for your safety," I said solemnly as I went through my menu.

_Favorites_

_Weapons_

_Apparel_

_Crystals_

_Misc._

_Social_

_ Search_

_ Friends_

_Guild Menu_

_ -Inventory_

-_Members_

_ -Locations_

-_Leave__ Guild_

A new window popped up as I clicked on the last option.

_-Are you sure you want to leave the Moonlit Black Cats? You cannot rejoin without an invitation from the leader. (O) Yes (X) No _

I bit my tongue as I hit the blue "O" on the window.

_You have now left the Moonlit Black Cats. Best of luck, player._

"I'll see you guys at boss meetings. Please keep in touch."

And then I walked out the front door uncontested.

_Did I make the right choice?_

I couldn't help but feel a part of me inside grow cold and empty with guilt.

_No! I did do the right thing! I want to save players here in SAO, that's part of the reason I joined the clearing team. Heck, it's the reason I met the Black Cats in the first place. It's not like I'll never see them again... I'll still lend a blade if they need it in boss fights, as well as any new info I come across.. *sigh* Well.. sometimes to save somebody, it's better to be away from them.. even if it means feeling miserable, the thought of them thriving is worth it.._

Well, I guess I'll be off to the Floor 50 dungeon.

* * *

**Author's Note: Well there you have it! A newer, hopefully better version of Chapter 1. The lyrics in the beginning were to a song called "Babe" by Styx. Nearly two years after the initial publishing and I'm still trying to fix a story on my favorite pairing. Well, have a great day, everyone! I'll see y'all soon.**


	2. Solo Again

**Author's Note: Since I've got too much time on my hands and it's ticking away with my sanity (more Styx, anyone?), I thought I'd try to upload another chapter before August ended. Since school for me kicks back in on the 25th, I may only be able to post new chapters every few weeks. I'm sorry if I get any dates or details from the series wrong in the story, since it's bound to happen sooner or later. For accuracy's sake, I'm doing a lot of research on the wiki site, anime, and volumes. If you guys have any ideas for later points in the plot or other stories, I'm happy to hear them via PM or reviews, and I may even use them with your permission. Of course you'll get a shoutout in the Author's Note section and a favor in return. I hope the minor OC isn't a big deal. Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy the story. Here goes nothing!**

* * *

**_As time goes on  
I realize just what you mean to me  
And now, now that you're near  
Promise your love that I've waited to share  
And dream of our moments together  
Color my world with hope of loving you._**

* * *

**Floor 50 Boss Meeting**  
**15-January-2024**  
**13:53**

It's been about a few weeks since I left the Moonlit Black Cats. I haven't seen them since the morning after Christmas, of course that was due to my efforts made to avoid them. Even though I tried avoiding them, Sachi would occasionally send me a message asking how I've been or to give updates on the guild, and I would respond cordially and sometimes send them important info I'd find on the field, but contact never went farther than that. I guess she hadn't known of my efforts.. How badly did I hurt the guild members when I left? For heaven's sake, I hope they didn't deliberately skip the meeting since they'd figure I would be here.

"Okay, it's 3 'til 2, so let's get this meeting started! Thanks to Zane's party searching night and day in the dungeon, they were able to gather info on the next boss." Asuna's voice brought me back to reality. Well, _virtual_ reality.

_Where are the Black Cats? They would normally show up ten minutes early. Now they're gonna be late for the meeting. _

"Zane, since your party found the boss, why don't you tell us about it?" Asuna asked.

"Thank you, Asuna, I'd be honored." Zane responded. "The boss's name is The Six-Armed Metallic Buddha Statue. He has 4 health bars, and his attack pattern consists of using three of its arms to smash the ground and the other three to either grab any player staggered and throw them into one of the pillars twenty meters away, or simply backhanding them after smashing. Regardless of what it chooses, the attack deals a lot of damage. Not to mention the recoil damage taken upon landing. Try to be at least 5 meters away when you see any of its arms rise above its head, or jump if you can't get out of the-" He turned to see five more players come into the room, all gasping for air.

_Well I guess that answers my question._

"I guess we're late... umm... please continue..." Keita said after he caught his breath.

"Ok. Kirito, you can fill in the blanks for them afterwards, right?" Asuna asked.

_What?! Why me? Everyone else here heard the same thing I did.._

"Sure, I suppose." I guess I can't stay away from them forever.

"Good. As I was saying, jump if you can't get the five meter distance in time. We found that bladed weapons are less than effective against the boss, so we may need to recruit more tanks and mace users for this one. On the bright side, Buddha has a three second cooling period after its smash attack, but it may change once he's on his last health bar. Back to you, Asuna"

"Thanks, Zane. Okay, with that being said, does anyone have any ideas on how we can fight this boss?" she asked.

"Well since it has a cool off period, why don't we avoid its attacks and hit him while he's frozen?" somebody from the back called up.

"It's a good start, but the longer we're out there, the higher the chance somebody can get killed." Asuna said with a ponderous look on her face.

"Maybe the swordsman can stay in the front to distract it while most of the mace and axe users flank around back and attack him there?" I suggested.

"We can't do that. What if it turns around? The mace and axe users would be within the attack range of the boss and can be taken out. That would not only result in the loss of players, but they're also our only hope in defeating the boss." she shot back with.

_Damn it! She's not going to start an argument in another boss meeting, is she?_

"I guess.. It was just a suggestion."

"Well you know what? It's a stupid suggestion."

*sigh*_ I guess she is. Why is she being like this now? She never starts her week '__til around the 20th.. Kazuto! You shouldn't be thinking like that! Sorry, Asuna.._

"Really?! I don't hear the vice leader of the KoB giving any ideas that can help us!"

"Fine! We surround it on all sides with a balanced set of players and attack it one side at a time!" A few players gasped at her sudden and ideal response.

_Woah... Didn't see that coming.. _

_*sigh* _"Okay... I guess you win this one.." I muttered with defeat. Why didn't I think of that?

"All in favor?" Heathcliff asked from the corner. Just about everyone raised their hand. Why does he never contribute in these meetings?

"Well, I guess that settles it. Everyone meet at the dungeon entrance tomorrow at 11:45 and attack the room at 12:00." He said before he left the room.

Oh well, I guess you win some and you lose some. As everybody headed out, I went to go look for the Black Cats to fill them in.

"Hey, Kirito! Long time no see! How've you been?" Tetsuo asked with a grin.

"Ok, I guess... Well, Asuna thought I should fill in the blanks for you guys since... well.. you know."

"Yeah, I heard.." he said as his face turned pink. "So what's the boss like?"

"Let's get everyone else first. You'll be getting a lot of action, that much I can tell you before we get everyone."

"Yay..." He said sarcastically.

We got everyone together at a nearby restaurant and I explained to everyone what to expect, along with a few tips for the fight. Even though I'm not officially with them anymore, I still wanna help any way I can. After I finished giving them the briefing, we all had lunch there and began talking for an hour. It felt great being around them again! The best part was, Keita gave me some space and didn't ask me to join the guild. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy being around them, but I left for a reason. After lunch, I walked back to my newly purchased home, also in Algade. For the next few hours after that, I went looking around for furniture so the place wouldn't be so empty. Before I knew it, it was already about 21:00. _Gosh, I can't believe Kazuto "Kirito" Kirigaya spent an entire afternoon and evening shopping! __I'd better get to bed soon if I'm gonna spend 4 hours training tonight. _

I plopped onto my bed in an attempt to get some rest, but to no avail. I can't stop thinking about them! What are the Black Cats doing right now? Leveling? Looking for new equipment? Kicking back to relax themselves for tomorrow? _Man, do I miss those days.._ _Maybe later on when they get close to my level... _No! But.. *sigh* I can't trust myself to have their backs when they need me. _Damn it, Kirito! Why can't you be strong enough to protect them!_ Maybe when I know for certain that I can protect them... Yeah, only then. For the time being, I'll just send them equipment and mapping info.. but how would I do that? I can't just randomly send any of them the equipment without raising questions.. wait! Sachi! She wouldn't need to ask since she's smart enough to see right through me with certain things.

A long time ago, Sachi insisted we made a shared inventory page between the two of us. Me being the idiot I was (and probably still am), thought she was asking me if I wanted to marry her, and after creating an awfully long, awkward silence and turning her face crimson red, she explained to me that it's meant to hold items specifically put in there by either player (as oppose to _every _item the player owned), and that we'd have it contain healing items and teleport crystals. At the time, I thought that it wasn't going to be useful since there was already a guild inventory page, but in retrospect, I'm glad I went along with it.

After I put last night's loot and whatever spare items I could part with in the page, I sent her a PM:

_Dear Sachi, I left some armor and weapons in our shared inventory page that I collected while grinding last night. Please let the others know that they're there so you guys can find a use for the items or sell them to upgrade your equipment. I hope they help.-Kirito_

Maybe that'll help clear my conscience... I lay there in bed for about five minutes before I got a response:

_Kirito,  
Thanks for the new equipment! Just in time, too. Ducker took a bad swipe to his chest when we were hunting earlier today and he lost his chest plate. I'll show the guys in a bit and update you tomorrow morning. Did you maybe... wanna grab breakfast tomorrow..?- Sachi_

At first, I wasn't too sure what her motives were with that. _Does she mean it like a date? _No.. If it were, she would've specifically asked for one. Oh why not? Even if it were one, I guess I wouldn't mind.

_I hope he isn't too shaken up by that, I'm glad he has a use for it. And I'd be happy to, name the place and I'll be there at 9. Good night, Sachi, _I hit send as I fell asleep.

* * *

**Floor 50: Algade business district  
09:02  
16-January-2024  
**

"May I take your order?" The NPC waiter asked me.

"Umm, I get a few more minutes?"

"No problem, just call when you're ready." he said as he turned to the next table.

"Where's Sachi?" I wondered as I looked through the menu to find something appetizing. She was never the kind of person to be late for anything. Ah, maybe she just got lost, the streets of Algade are pretty confusing after all. About another five minutes went by before the girl in light blue walked in.

"Hey, Kirito!" she said with a smile, which I quickly returned.

"Morning, Sach! How'd the guys like the items?"

"They were like little kids in a candy shop," she giggled, "it'd been a while since I saw them that excited. After Ducker and Maru each got a new chest plate, then Keita and Tetsuo went to the market district of Algade to sell what was left over. I really can't thank you enough for it."

"It's no problem. I didn't need any of the equipment and I already have more money than I need, so I figured I'd give it to somebody who can make good use of it. See anything you like?" I said as I gestured to the menu.

We ordered our food and sat there talking about anything an everything for a little over an hour. We got so into the conversation, our plates sat on the table for about 10 minutes before either of us noticed them. Even after we finished eating the conversation continued. Before we knew it, we began talking about our real world lives, and strangely enough, I didn't feel weird doing so in spite of the rule of thumb among MMO players.

"While we're still on this, I guess I should tell you my name, I'm Kirigaya Kazuto." I said as I extended my hand and a smile.

"Hello, Kazuto!" She said brightly as she shook my hand. "My name is Sorimachi Akemi. I guess you can tell where my avatar name came from..."

"Well hello, Akemi! It's a really nice name, it suits you." I said as I thought of the meaning.

"Wait, isn't it improper to speak of the real world in-game? It's what I heard from other players, at least.."

"Generally yes, but... you're the person who's closest to me in Aincrad. Sure, there's Klein and the other Black Cats, but I feel a higher level of comfort with you.." I admitted.

"Oh, okay.. I know what you mean." She responded with a blush. "Oh, wow! I can't believe we've been here for so long, we're gonna be late for the boss fight!" Sachi said as she looked at her system clock.

"Really? Oh crap! You're right!" I exclaimed as I checked the time- 11:45. Man, the rest of the clearers are gonna kill me! Us!

As soon as I paid for the breakfast, we both bolted out of the restaurant and headed for the dungeon. Thankfully, I'd been up here long enough to know how to navigate the maze of alleys and streets and get to where the clearers were all gathered.

"Well look at who decided to show up!" An all too familiar samurai said as Sachi and I joined the crowd.

"Sorry... we're... late..." I said between gasps for air, "Lost... track... of... time..."

"Oh, did you now!" Klein teased.

"It wasn't like that!" Sachi exclaimed as she caught her breath.

"Hey! Where were you?" Ducker asked Sachi as the Moonlit Black Cats came up to us.

"Well I went to go have breakfast with Ka-Kirito and lost track of time.." She replied.

"Hey, Kirito! Man, we can't thank you enough for the armor and weapons you gave us. It all added up to almost 60,000 col!" Keita told me with a pat on the back.

"It's nothing, guys. I'm glad you all were able to make good use of it."

For the next few minutes, we all kicked back and made some small talk while some other solo players and guilds made their way to the rest of the clearing group. Thank heaven! Maybe I can find somebody to party with over here. I walked around for a few minutes trying to find somebody who would take me, but to no avail. I ended up getting mixed responses: 'Sorry, already have 6,' 'No way, damn Beater,' and 'Maybe next time.' With nowhere else to turn, I reluctantly walked over to my old guild. After I left, they're pretty much guaranteed to have adapted a new fighting style. I really hope they won't reject me for that reason and more...

"Hey guys, umm... can I join your party..? I've been asking around and nobody else is interested.." I asked nervously.

"No problem, Kirito." Sasamaru started, "Ducker's having a bit of trouble being a front man with Tetsuo."

Well I don't really see how it could've worked, seeing as to how Ducker loves his daggers. Even if it did work against monsters from the dungeons, it's more than error prone against a floor boss.

"Thanks, guys... so just like before?" I asked, trying to remember how we used to function.

"Just like before."

I joined the party and we all began heading through the dungeon at precisely 12. Ten minutes later, we were standing in front of the large doors that led to the boss room.

"Remember, we need to balance the amount of players we have surrounding it. Blade users, remember to use a sword skill to parry the boss's attack so that the mace users can switch in. When we wear it down to its last HP bar, fight defensively until we learn its new attack pattern. We've come this far already, and today, Aincrad will be halfway complete!" Asuna declared, with a round of cheers an applause to follow. Heathcliff opened the doors and revealed the room's interior. Inside was like a traditional temple; two dozen pillars stood at the edges of the circular room with a curved staircase residing on the other side. Right in the center was the Six Armed Metallic Buddha Statue. In between the pillars sat what added up to a dozen identical monk statues with their legs crossed and hands together.

As we went inside, I ran in with the rest of my guild- _Idiot, _former _guild - _around back to take on the Buddha from behind. Once we had the five meter figure surrounded, the bronze statue sprung to life, giving off a deafening scream. It pounded its fists into the ground showing the start of what will be a difficult fight, and then it _levitated._

"What?! Zane! Why didn't you mention that the damned thing _floats_?!" Asuna cried from the other side of the room. That bastard!

The air stood still for a split second before the Buddha made its first move, moving over to one of the sides and smashing the ground around him, leaving a few players staggered.

_Well at least he was right about his initial attack pattern. _Without thinking, I quickly rushed over to the boss, which had its back facing me, and gave it a Vertical Arc to the waist to get its attention away from the other players. Sure enough, the Buddha turned to face me with a killing intent. He was just about to hit me while I was cooling off until about a half dozen attacks hit him in the side. I looked up at its HP bar to see about 3% of it disappear. _This is going to take a while._

I made my way back to my party members and began to see that Asuna's idea was working fairly well so far; we're able to distract it from one direction and attack it in another. We were able to keep this up without incident for about a half hour, wearing down one of its HP bars in the process. Keita and Maru would use their sword skills to get his attention and Tetsuo and I would switch out to deal a small amount of damage. Sachi and Ducker would stay in the back in case any of us needed healing or help while staggered. After an hour of the cat-and-mouse game we were playing with the Buddha, we were almost done taking out its second HP bar. When we finally got rid of it, something completely unexpected happened: the monks came to life.

In a clockwise order from the door, they all stood up two meters tall and had glowing white eyes. They weren't holding any weapons, but rather fought with their fists. A few unfortunate souls on the outer rim closest to them were knocked off of their feet with a spinning low kick and stomped in the middle of their chest, taking about 20% of their HP. Two _very_ unlucky players were hit by a 10-hit combo that tragically turned them each into a cloud of polygons.

"Knights! Keep those monks off of us!" Heathcliff ordered.

"Paladins! Help the knights! Everyone else proceed with the boss!" Lind screamed the next second.

I shot a glance to Keita and Maru and gave a quick nod, signaling them to fight the new enemy as well. The next second, they were engaged on one. With about one-third of the clearing group focused on the monks, the Buddha was able to begin a counter-attack on the remainder of us. By now, we've already lost three players out of approximately 45.

With just over 25 players still focused exclusively on the boss, we were barely able to keep switching out players either cooling off or staggered. We kept attacking as best as we could for about 5 minutes until the other 15 players could come back and give some aid. A few more clouds of polygons came and left before they were finally able to get rid of all 12 monks. After a quick look around, I saw that only 4 players were still in the green for their HP. About a quarter were already in the high red, and the rest of us were in the yellow. If we continue at this pace, half of the clearing team is going to be wiped out by the time we defeat this bastard. It's been close to two hours since we came into the room, and sadly, all of us looked drained. Some players look like they're fighting just to stay on their feet.

"Everyone back off! I'll hold him for now!" Heathcliff barked from his point of the circle. What the hell was this guy thinking?! We were having a hard time fighting defensively with 25 players, so what makes him think he can hold off the boss own? Is he trying to get himself killed?! After signaling the Black Cats to heal themselves and rest up, I went and joined Heathcliff. I guess he wasn't expecting me to join him, so we were pretty disorganized with our end of attacks to the Metallic Statue, giving oddly timed sword skills without switching out for the first minute or so. Thankfully, we managed to find ourselves attacking from the same direction, with Heathcliff dodging the initial strike right before I went in with a mid-level sword skill. While we continued the fight, I saw Asuna, Lind, Keita, and Klein running around handing out potions to those who needed them, regardless of the guild they were in. Thank heaven they're healing themselves and others while they can.

With that in mind, I took a look at my HP bar to find that I had just over 60% left. _Eh, I'll manage until the rest of them join the fray again. _

"How you holding out, Heathcliff?!" I asked in between attacks.

"Just over 80%!" He said as we switched out. _What?! How is that possible?! I hadn't seen him drink a potion or use a healing crystal! Ah, he probably has ridiculously high Battle Heal skill._

"Okay! That's the third HP bar!" I cried five minutes later. My body's drained and I'm starting to see three of everything. Though I still have a little over half of my HP leftover, I'm going to pass out from fatigue. Soon.

"Kirito, switch!" Heathcliff says as he raised his cross-shaped shield over his head.

"On it!" I scream back as I charge my Sonic Leap skill. I jump a few feet in the air and use his shield as a launch pad to take myself higher up. Just as I'm about to land the hit, the Buddha used one if its arms to grab me in mid-air and smash me into the ground three meters below. A split second after I hit the ground, it picks me up again and hurls me into one of the pillars at the edge of the room.

"Kirito!" Sachi and Tetsuo cry out in unison. I lay there on the ground for what feels like an eternity, recovering from the recoil damage as they rush in my direction with pink crystals in hand.

Tetsuo gets to me first. "Heal!" he commands, and I see my HP go from just over 5% back to 100%. Man, am I glad I wore a chest plate today, the added defense saved my life.

"Thanks, Tetsuo..." I say slowly and softly. Even though I'm healed completely, my limbs feel like gelatin and my mind is fatigued. In spite of this, all I can think about is getting back into the fight. Through my cloudy vision, I see Sachi running up to me and everyone else rushing back into attack formation around the boss.

"Don't scare me like that, Kazuto! I mean, Kirito!" She began, "What do you expect me to do if you get yourself killed?!"

"You don't need to think about that, I'm not going anywhere, Sach." I said with the most confident smile I could muster. All Sachi could do in response was give me a pout.

While everyone else began wearing down the final bar, I materialized a bottle of water and quickly emptied it, then jumped back into the fight. Lind of the Divine Dragon Alliance had taken my place fighting with Heathcliff after I was thrown like a ragdoll, so I went back to fighting with my original party. A few more players were still smashed and thrown like I was, but thankfully nobody else was lost. Another half hour went by before we sent the Buddha into the red zone. Seeing the opportunity for the Last Attacking Bonus, I went in and gave the Statue a Howling Octave- a high-level 8-hit combo- right in the center of its chest. Much to my surprise, the boss kept fighting; my attack knocked it down to 1% of its health. Damn it! The Howling Octave has a five-second cool off period after its use, so I may lose the LAB if I don't get smashed and thrown again. All I could do was wait to finish cooling off.

_**5...**_

_**4...**_

_**3...**_

"That's what you get, damned beater!" one of the other solo players spat at me as he raised his two-handed sword to finish it off.

_**2...**_

_**1...**_

_Not so fast._

He barely reached striking range with a sword skill charged when I released my Vorpal Strike skill and finished the kill.

The Buddha let out a deafening scream before it exploded into a large cloud of colorful polygons.

**CONGRATULATIONS!** The message window appeared high in the air over everyone. Another window congratulated me showing the item I got for the last attack: a black bladed one-handed sword called _The_ _Elucidator_. I took a quick look at the stats in disappointment; I needed another few points to my strength stat before I can equip it.

The sound of cheers and whistles filled the room when the last remnants of the Buddha disappeared. After Heathcliff gave me the honor of opening up the next teleport gate and tried to get me to join the KoB _again_ since I'm a solo player once more, I met up with the Black Cats to celebrate at their HQ. We were all dog tired after the fight, so we all agreed to take an hour to rest up before we did any celebration.

* * *

**Floor 35  
Moonlit Black Cats Headquarters  
16:42**

Once we walked into the front door, Sasamaru, Ducker, and Sachi all headed off to their rooms for the time being. "You can go back to your old room for now if you like," Keita offered as I lay down on the sofa.

"Thanks, but I'm really comfortable right here," I yawned. Well, it was _half _the truth. I didn't wanna get too comfortable while I was here.

"Ok, well you're always welcome to," he said as he walked to his room.

_Join again or go to the room? _Oh calm down, Kirito.. If he wanted you to join, he'd specifically offer that, you idiot.

I adjusted myself on the couch and slowly drifted off into a much needed sleep.

* * *

"Kirito..?" a voice interrupted my dreamless sleep.

"Hmmm..." I lazily responded.

"Kirito..? Come on, please wake up...?" The voice asked as I felt the source began nudging my shoulder.

"Ahh... who is it..?" I asked as I rolled over.

"Sachi." she answered.

"Oh, hey, Sach, what time is it?" I asked as I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

"5:32. I woke up and couldn't fall asleep again, so I thought I'd come down here..." She said nervously. "I hope I'm not bugging you..."

"No, you're not bugging me," I smiled as I patted the top of her head.

"Mmm... okay... You know, you really scared me when you were thrown across the room earlier today... I was so worried.." She said as tears began to form in her eyes. I guess her feelings haven't faded at all since Christmas..

"Hey it's okay, Sach," I said softly as I sat on the floor next to her, "Like I said, I'm not going anywhere."

"I just don't want to lose you! I was so scared when you left! I was mortified at the thought that I may not get to see you again! Then you almost get yourself killed in the boss fight and I nearly lost it! If Tetsuo hadn't healed you in time, I would've thrown myself into one of the boss's attacks!" She was one step below bawling by now.

In that moment, I hated myself. Here was somebody who valued me more than she did herself, and I was trying to play the hero in this last fight, hardly giving any thought of my own safety when I was there. She was ready to kill herself on the spot if I died! No, her feelings hadn't faded in the time I was gone. They grew stronger.

"Sachi..." I said softly, tears now forming in my eyes, "I'm sorry.. I knew that you love me and held me in such high value, but I didn't know it went to such an extent..." I wrapped my arms around her, letting her head rest on my shoulder. "I was worried that Heathcliff wouldn't be able to hold off the boss by himself for long... it won't happen again.." _You couldn't come up with anything better than that, you idiot?!_

"It better not, you dummy!" She muttered as she got her tears and breath under control. "You mean too much to me, and you know that.."

"I know..." I want her to feel better, but how..? So far, what I'm saying isn't helping at all..

"Hey, Kirito, I'm sorry.. I called you by your real name... around... everyone.. It probably wasn't... smart of me to.." She said between sniffles.

"Don't worry about it, silly," I said, trying to bring a smile to her face, "It felt really nice hearing it for the first time in a little over a year."

"Really..?"

"Of course. Actually, I wanted to ask you to start calling me that... When we're alone, of course," I offered.

"Really? Thanks, Kiri-Kazuto!" She giggled. _There's the smile I'm looking for._

"It's my pleasure- Akemi!" I teased, pulling her closer to my side. "You know, when you kissed me this past Christmas, it was my first one both in the virtual world and the real world, right?"

Sachi turned to me with a curious look on her blushing face, "Really..? I'm sorry... I didn't know... I never even bothered to ask if you had anyone special waiting on the other side for you..." She began sliding away.

"Hey, hey, hey, you don't need to worry, that's not the case, I promise," I reassured her while softly pulling her back, "If there was, I would've told you then. Well.. is there anyone... waiting for you..?"

"No, silly," she said before playfully slapping my chest, "I'm not that kind of person... I wouldn't have fallen for you if somebody was waiting on the other side for me."

"Oh, okay... Hey, do you think it's time to wake up the other guys? They'd mentioned that they wanted to start at 6, and it's already almost 10 'til."

"Umm... can we do that in a few minutes..?" she pleaded. I guess she's enjoying the moment as much as I am. Quite frankly, I don't want to wake them for about another hour or so..

"I'm okay with that," I answered with a grin.

"Good," she faced me, returning the smile, "honestly, the kiss we had was my first one too.. I didn't know how it'd be or how you'd react when I did it, so I guess... I threw caution into the wind and went ahead and did it.."

For a second, I had a flashback of some of the events of that night: her begging me to stay, me insisting that I should leave, the two of us kissing, her confession, then lying down with her to fall asleep. "Well... how did you feel about it..?"

"At first, I felt numb throughout my body," she replied, "then, my knees began shaking. I guess I was afraid you'd pull away and be mad at me, but when you pulled me closer, all of the numbness went away, and I melted into it... it felt... amazing... you even kissed me a few more times after we'd both fallen asleep an-"

"W-what..?! I-I didn't realize..!" I interrupted, my face quickly turning bright red. Did I really do that..?! Why didn't she tell me?!

"It's ok, Kazuto.! I'm guessing you were asleep when that happened.."

"Yeah.. I guess I was..." I said rather quickly, trying to hide my embarrassment.

"Oh, okay, haha," she kissed my cheek before continuing, "as I was saying, it was probably the best thing I've woken up to.. well... what about you..?"

"M-me? Well," I took a moment to think about my words, "when you had kissed me, I was taken completely by surprise. My first instinct was to pull away and ask what that was for, but then decided against it because of how it felt... I could tell you loved me just by the way you held onto me and how your lips felt against mine. A long time before hand I discovered that I had feelings for you, which is why I'd hold onto you if you grabbed onto me in your sleep. I wasn't too sure how strong they were until we actually did kiss. That's when I'd realized that I'd be willing to do anything to protect you, even throw away my own happiness. When I pulled you closer, I didn't want to let you go until I couldn't hold onto you anymore, and even when that moment came, I was going to hold you as close as possible. Akemi...?"

"Y-yes..?" she asked with sparkles in her midnight blue eyes.

"I.. I..." I began stuttering as I tried to get my mouth to cooperate with my brain. _Well, you promised you'd tell her when the feelings finally came._ "I.. I think I'm in love with you."

Her free hand covered her mouth and her eyes widened in disbelief as she processed what I had just told her.

Once she recovered from my confession, she spoke slowly and quietly, "D-do you... really..?"

_Well, maybe this'll show you._ I placed my left hand gently on her cheek and adjusted myself so that we were facing each other completely. Slowly but surely, I began to lean in, leaving her with the opportunity to back out if she so desires. Pulling her in closer, I took one last deep look into her eyes before closing mine. Before I knew it, my lips finally met hers for the first time in weeks. In a matter of seconds, we both exhaled our held breaths and melted into each other's kiss. I tried to move my hand to grab hers, but our bodies seemed to have gone limp since we exhaled only a moment ago. The only thing that I was able to control was my neck, which was using all my energy to keep my head up and pressed against Sachi's. After about two minutes of pure bliss, we both collapsed on the floor in front of the sofas, gasping for air and recovering from our kiss.

"W-wow... that.. was amazing.." Sachi sighed a few minutes later.

"I... I hope that answers your question.. If it didn't, then it's a yes," I said as I caught my breath.

"No, it did.."

We ended up lying there for a few minutes before we were able to get back on our feet again. When that moment came around, we both went and woke up the other guys to get the party started. Keita prepped the food, Ducker and I set up the decorations, and Tetsuo and Sachi went to go invite people from the clearing group to join us. About ten minutes before people were supposed to start showing up, I pulled Keita out to the living room.

"So what is it you wanted to talk to me about, Kirito?"

_Are you sure you want to do this.._

"Well, I just wanted to ask you..." I started. _Now or never, you idiot. "_Could I join the Moonlit Black Cats again.?"

* * *

**Author's note: Yes! Chapter 2 is done and published! The lyrics in the beginning are to the song "Color my World" by Chicago. I tried to make Kirito a little indecisive and confusing to show his inner struggle about his earlier choice, I hope I didn't take it too far. Also, I'm not too good with battle scenes, but I like to think that it was fairly interesting and climactic. For those of you wondering what the name Akemi meant in this context, it means 'bright and beautiful'. I got curious for Kazuto, so I looked it up and found out that it meant 'harmonious person'. So far, nobody's submitted the answer to my question at the end of chapter one, so the winner is going to read chapter 3 before I publish it. That'll probably be out early next month if I'm lucky. Reviews and favorites are greatly appreciated! Obscureuser out!**


	3. The Clearers' Crusade

**Author's Note: Hey, guys! This chapter is going to go off of the story line quite a bit because it's covering an event only mentioned in both the novels and the anime: the crusade on the Laughing Coffin. It's been fairly easy to write the earlier chapters since I've had plenty of references to go off of, but this one's going to be a rather tough chapter to write due to the event being only mentioned with very few details. I guess that means it'll be a test of how well my imagination and writing skills work together. I thought I should give credit to the fanfiction that inspired me to write a story that allows Sachi and Kirito to not only live through the entire Aincrad arc, but be together in the process. It's called Floor One Hundred and Beyond if I'm not mistaken, so go ahead and check that out if y'all have the time and desire to do so. It's in the M-rated list as well. Anyway, please sit back and enjoy the story.**

* * *

**_I look ahead to all the plans that we made  
And the dreams that we had  
I'm in a world that tries to take them away  
Oh, but I'm taking them back  
_****_'Cuz all this time, I've been too blind to understand what should matter to me  
My friends, the life we live, it's not what we have  
It's what we believe in_**

**_It's not my time, I'm not going  
There's a fear in me, it's not showing  
This could be the end of me, and everything I know  
There's a will in me, and now I know that this could be the end of me  
And everything I know  
But I won't go._**

* * *

**Date: 21-May-2024  
Floor 47**

"Is here a good spot, Akemi?"

"It's perfect, Kazuto!" Sachi replied happily. We sat down under a tree in the middle of Floria, the main part of the 'Flower Garden' floor. Flowers of all shapes, sizes, and colors surrounded us for tens of meters.

I re-joined the MBC back in mid-January, and began dating Sachi, or Akemi for when we're alone with each other, immediately after. Needless to say, we've been sleeping in the same bed since then. It was one of our few days off away from the front lines, so we decided to have a picnic on what many believed to be the most romantic floor in all of Aincrad.

As I pulled out the blanket and a couple of pillows from my inventory, Sachi pulled out the picnic basket from hers. She told me she'd prep the food for this afternoon, but refused to tell me what it was until we were gonna eat, so the suspense was killing me. Can you blame me? Eating is the second most fun thing to do in this world. I don't think I need to say what number one is for me.

"What is it? What is it? What is it?" I asked eagerly.

"Calm down, Sweetie, can't you wait a few more seconds?" Sachi responded with a teasing smile.

"Aww, okay..."

We ate in the cool shade for about a half hour before we put the basket and blanket away to lie down in the grass. Afterwards, we were both there enjoying the serenity of the gardens.

*Yawn* "I don't know about you, but I'm starting to feel kinda sleepy..." My girlfriend began, "I think I'm going to fall asleep for a bit.." *yawn*

"Aww, Honey," I kissed the top of her head, "I'm starting to rub off on you, aren't I?"

"Oh hush up.. are you going to let me rest my head on your shoulder or not?" She asked with a shy smile.

"No need to ask." I answered, "Come here, you."

Before I knew it, she had herself cuddled up to me and began dozing off with a smile on her adorable face. _ I can't wait for the time we do this on the other side.. _I held her in my arms for a few minutes before I began feeling drowsy. _Ah, we're in a safe zone. I can afford a few minutes of sleep. _

"I love you, Akemi. Sweet dreams," I whispered to my girlfriend before giving her a kiss on the cheek.

_My turn to fall asleep..._

BZZT, BZZT, BZZT.

_Damn it... what is it now..._

Being careful not to wake up Sachi, I navigated my menu to check the PM. Seriously, couldn't it wait until this evening? When the date was over?

_Kirito,  
We need you and your guild to come to the KoB headquarters right now. We're on Floor 55 now. I can't emphasize how important it is that you all come.__-Asuna_

What does she need now? *sigh*

_Asuna,  
__Can it wait? I'm kinda busy right now. I can gather the others and be there in about 2 hours. How does 15:00 sound? -Kirito_

_Damn it, Kirito! It can't wait two hours!_ We_ need you here now! Unless you're dealing with something that's a matter of life or death, you need to get over here with your guild NOW, because that's why I'm calling you._

What can she possibly be dealing with that's a matter of life or death? The boss room on the top floor hasn't been found yet, so it isn't a boss meeting, and I highly doubt that she and her fellow knights need to be saved from anything. At the same time, she wouldn't call the entire guild over without a pretty good reason.

"Hey, sweetie, wake up!" I said as I began nudging her shoulders. Slowly but surely, the girl of midnight blue stirred, giving off a long yawn while she stretched. Wow, I guess I _am_ rubbing off on her.

After I explained to her what Asuna told me, we got up and gathered the others back at our HQ. A half hour after I got the message, we went up to the steel city of Grandzam. The first thing I noticed upon arrival was how empty the city seemed; there were few players roaming the streets. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, it was usually an uncomfortable kind of cold and the front lines were only a few floors away.

"W-where's t-their headquarters?" Ducker asked, trying to control his shivers.

"Should be near the edge of town. They needed us there ASAP, so let's not keep them waiting too long." I answered as I pulled up the city map. "This way."

We arrived a few minutes later to find a both intimidating and tremendous sight: The Knights of the Blood Tower. The cobalt-gray castle stood about 15 meters tall with red and silver KoB banners draped on both sides of the entrance. Large red flags with white sword-shaped crosses flew high and mighty on the roof. Their HQ reminded me of the pictures of castles that my dad -sorry, uncle- would send home when he'd travel to Germany.

"Woah..." We all said in unison, taking in the scenery.

"State your business," the two guards at the gates spat as we approached them.

"We're here under the request of Vice Commander Asuna. In her invitation, she mentioned that it was urgent," I explained, showing them her message in my menu.

The guards looked at each other and nodded us in. After a quick look around inside, we were surprised at how much had gone into the headquarters as a whole. How can thirty players come up with so much money?! This must have cost millions! Hell, our newer headquarters cost just over one million col, and it's minute by comparison!

We led ourselves to what we believed to be the main room and waited for one of the officers of the guild to come and fill in some details.

"Hey, Keita, remember how our first house cost 200,000 col on the first floor?" Tetsuo broke the silence as he looked around the room.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"The furniture and decorations in this room alone probably costs at least twice as much!" He exclaimed before he broke down laughing, the rest of us following shortly after.

"What's so funny?!" A strong voice called from the doorway. We all turned to see none other than Asuna herself, looking pretty pissed off. "The strongest guilds were called here for a serious meeting, now quit screwing around and hurry up! You're late!"

_Why's she so mad? Well, the 20th passed only a day or two ago.. Wait, we're considered one of the strongest guilds?_

She escorted us to a large meeting room where I saw leaders and members from the Divine Dragon Alliance, Fuurinkazan, and of course, the Knights of the Blood. We shyly took our spots around the table that resided in the middle of the room. Once we were all settled in, Asuna stood at the head of the long, rectangular table and began, "Lind, this meeting was your idea, now why don't you take it from here?"

"Glad to," he started, "Okay, the reason I called for this meeting was to discuss a growing problem in Aincrad. You all are familiar with the Laughing Coffin, correct?"

Many of those in the room flinched at the mention of the name.

"I'm taking that as a yes. If you know that, then you must also know that they've been a pain in the ass to a large number of players in this god forsaken death game, often taking the money and items of a player in exchange for their lives, hell, even being hired killers in some cases. Even took down one of my best tanks last month. We NEED to make sure they don't hurt anyone else, clearer or not. I've already sent messengers to meet and negotiate with some of their members at a classified rendezvous point. We should hear from them any time now. From now on, we need to all meet here at the same time, same day, once per week until those bastards are locked up in the Army's prison on floor 1. If they don't comply, we're going to have to take them there by force. You guys are supposed to be the best of the best, so I'm really counting on you guys. If any of you want to leave, I'll see to it that it's not held against you." Nobody moved an inch. "That's all I have for today."

"Okay, I guess that pretty much sums this meeting up. Dismissed," Asuna spoke up as we got up to leave. "Same time next week!"

_Well damn.. that was awfully short._

* * *

**One hour later...**

Back at HQ, we were winding down from today and trying to process what the meeting was supposed to be about.

"So apparently, we're some of the elites?" Sasamaru asked optimistically.

"I guess so, so what do you think Lind meant about taking them by force? I mean, we don't even know where their base is! They seemingly come from thin air and vanish as ominously as they came. They must be pretty strong if they took out a tank from the DDA, a clearer, too!" Sachi exclaimed.

"It's pretty obvious what he meant about taking them by force. If we can't convince them to go to prison for their actions, we're going to have to pull them out of their damned rat hole sooner or later. I just hope they come to their senses before we're forced to do anything coercive." I said quietly and solemnly.

"Oi, Kirito, don't worry about it, okay? We're probably starting to worry over nothing. It's starting to get pretty late, why don't we all get to bed?" Keita offered, attempting to ease the atmosphere. Well.. maybe some sleep would do me good...

"Ah, maybe you're right... I'll see you guys in the morning," I said as Sachi and I walked up to our room. Once we changed into our pajamas, I couldn't help but notice a fearful expression on her face.

"Hey, Sweetie, what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing..." she answered, averting her gaze.

"Come on, Akemi, what is it? I know something's bothering you.. I can see it." We crawled under the covers and laid down next to each other.

"Well.. I'm just a little scared about how this'll turn out.." She dug her head into my chest as she began. "What if something happens.?"

"Aww, Akemi.." I wrapped my arms around her. "Don't worry about it, okay? Nothing's definite so far, like Keita said, we might be making a bigger deal of it than it should be. He's probably right."

"You really think so..?"

"Of course..." _Shouldn't lie to her, Kazuto..._

"Okay.. well let's go to sleep.. I'm tired.. *8-second yawn*"

"Sure thing. Goodnight, Akemi. I love you!"

"Goodnight, Kazuto. I love you too!"

* * *

**10-July-2024  
Floor 11, Taft**

"Well, the rings are worth 15,000 and the insignias are going to be about 10% extra, so it'll run you 16,500 col. Are you sure?" The owner asked.

"I'm not worried about cost, go for it," I responded. I was on one of the lower floors at a player-run shop looking for rings for Sachi and I. No, not necessarily wedding rings (those come with the marriage process, so I'm told), just a couple of rings to mark our six month anniversary. I figured I'd come to one of the lower floors not only because the prices were usually lower for items, but the players were usually nicer here as well. When the owner came back with the black and blue rings with the crescent moon insignia, I opened up the trade window and paid for the rings.

"Okay.." she said as we went through the transaction. "Thanks, customer! Wait, you put in 1000 extra!"

_Did I? Ah, whatever, the rings are worth at least double what I paid here back on the front lines. _"Don't worry about it, it's fine," I said as I walked out of the store. _I hope she likes it. Could I use them only for the 6 months, or something more..? Ah... maybe.. I guess it's possi-_

_BZZT_

_BZZT_

_Great.. another meeting..._

_Kirito, Lind needs us at the HQ fast, it's important.- Asuna._

_*sigh*_

_Asuna, I'm on my way, gonna get the guild now.- Kirito._

* * *

**Twenty minutes later  
Floor 55, KoB Headquarters**

"Those bastards! Every fucking time we send messengers, they get their names crossed out in the Black Iron Palace! Of the 20 we've sent so far, all of them were killed!" Lind ranted, and for a damn good reason, too. "We _need _to get rid of that damned red guild! As soon as we find out their location, we're going in! I've made arrangements to make a deal with some info brokers to see what they can do. I'm not sparing any expense."

Klein raised his hand, a look of determination on his face, "Actually, way ahead of you. I hired three of the best brokers in Aincrad to get any intel they can. For their safety's sake, I'm not saying their names."

Yeah... Argo's definitely on that list. Thankfully, she's the kind of person we can count on to get what we need to know, so we shouldn't be waiting long. The only thing we'd have to worry about is a price, even so, money's no object.

Lind responded to Klein's statement with a look of bewilderment, "Wow, Klein, I'm surprised. I can't express how much that helps."

"Well, I can do more than run a guild and fail miserably at getting a date, you know," he said, trying to lighten the mood.

"In spite of what you did, Samurai, I still think you're better at the latter," I interjected. "Based on what I've heard from different players and brokers alike, the Laughing Coffin has a little over 30 members. If we plan to take them on and win, we need to have at least double. The Moonlit Black Cats are all in, so we have 6 so far. Adding us with everyone else in here, we have a little over 40 members taking on those sons of bitches. Lind, Asuna, can you guys see who else from your guilds can participate in this? Don't give them too many details for security's sake."

"We can do that," they responded in unison.

"Anyone have anything else to add?" Heathcliff piped up from the corner.

For about another hour, we went over different scenarios out loud, trying to cover every possible event. Of course, Asuna and I treated it like a boss meeting and had an argument over a particular strategy. Keita ended up breaking up the fight forcing us to come to a compromise.

Once the meeting ended, the sun was setting on the floating castle, so we decided to call it a night early.

The waiting game begins.

* * *

**18-August-2024  
****Floor 35, Moonlit Black Cats Headquarters  
****17:46**

"Are you guys kinda nervous too..? I'm starting to feel sick..."

"We all are, Ducker. I'm not sure any of us know what exactly to expect, so we just stick together and watch each others' backs and we'll all be okay. Just relax, buddy," Keita reassured him.

In all honesty, I've never been more scared than I am now. Ever. In the past few meetings, we've gotten the location of their lair and decided on a strategy that's bound to work. We're supposed to raid their headquarters at midnight while they're either with their guard down, or asleep. After Asuna and Lind expanded their recruiting efforts, we were able to come up with a little over 70 clearers committed to the cause. Everyone's supposed to meet at my guild's headquarters at 22:00 and take off from there, since it's closest to our objective. I know, that's a crap ton of players in one medium-sized two-story house.

By the time eleven o'clock rolled around, just over 50 players had found their way to the guild house. With only one hour until we were supposed to begin the crusade and only two-thirds of the committed force ready to go, a lot of us were starting to get uneasy. So far, we had 20 players from the Knights of the Blood guild, including Heathcliff and Asuna, everyone from the Fuurinkazan and Moonlit Black Cats, 18 from the Divine Dragon Alliance, and a few solo players.

"Look, we can't keep waiting around for the others. As much as I hate to say it, we have to carry on without them; we have almost twice as many as they do and we're the strongest players in the game. Even if numbers aren't on our side, we more than compensate for that with strength and determination. Are we gonna take off now or not?" One of the KoB members piped up.

"Just a few more minutes and we'll take off. We still have a half hour," Asuna told him.

Five minutes before midnight, we headed off for the Laughing Coffin's headquarters. Thankfully, three solo players showed up in the time that we waited. According to our intel, the HQ is on floor 15 in a safe zone located in the dungeon. We had two scouts go and confirm the location some time back and never heard from them again, so I guess that was all the confirmation we needed. Those bastards.

Heathcliff made his way to the front of the group and pulled out a dark blue crystal in his hand- a Corridor crystal, super expensive, and super rare. I used one a few months ago when I put a red guild into prison, so I guess the same one-way deal is going to be used. He took a moment to explain himself: "This here is a Corridor crystal, we're going to use this to send the members we capture to the Army's prison. Every member of my guild put in an arm and a leg for this crystal, so let's make sure we get our full use out of it. Remember the mission, and as it was said before the Floor 1 fight, lets win!"

I turned to my friends and thought I'd give them one last briefing: "Okay, we need to make sure that we stick together if we want to make it out of here. We stay in pairs at all times, and with everyone when possible. The pairs: Keita and Ducker, Sasamaru and Tetsuo, and Sachi and I." I'm going to stay with my girlfriend to protect her from those damned rats. Nothing's going to change that. "We're not here to kill them, but don't be afraid to defend yourself. Use the chains in your inventory to bind anyone you capture, everyone was given 5. Try to immobilize them if you can by paralysis, recoil damage, or by force, whatever works. Their red players and we're green, so striking them isn't considered a crime. Remember your melee skills if you lose your weapon. Finally, each of you drink this," I said as I handed out five antidote potions, "it should last around fifteen minutes. It negates most poison and paralysis and adds a few points to your defense. They like to paralyze their target before mercilessly attacking, so don't get split up."

"Man, these guys mean serious business.." Sasamaru marveled.

* * *

"So you think this is it?" Sasamaru asked as we walked through the dungeon.

"I don't have any doubt about it, our brokers wouldn't let us down like that," Keita answered.

"AGH!" A scream broke the eerie silence followed by a bright cloud of pixels.

"Shit! Behind us!" I cried as I turned to the direction the scream came from. Using my Searching skill, I saw about a half-dozen orange cursors behind us and another dozen on each side. Idiot! Why didn't I activate the skill before we went inside?! "Stay together!"

The members of the red guild began attacking our sides, trying to disable some of the players to even up the odds. Before I knew it, everyone from my guild was engaged by one of the murderers.

"Give up! You're outnumbered and out leveled!" I heard Lind scream out.

Though he didn't get a verbal response, the pressing attack seemed to give us a good idea of their answer. Suddenly, a mace-wielder came charging in my direction, killing intent written all over his face. He gave the first strike, which I easily parried and countered.

"Give up if you want to see tomorrow!" I spat.

"Fuck you, Beater! Nobody's taking me prisoner!" He exclaimed preceding a multi-hit sword skill. I fought defensively until his skill ended and got ready to make my strike. Right when I was about to stun the red player, I felt a sudden pain in my lower left leg, then fell to the ground. _Shit! I'm paralyzed! How?! I took a high-level antidote potion to negate the effects!_ I looked around to find an LC member darting between two large stalagmites, throwing knives wet with an obviously strong paralysis potion intended to immobilize some of the players. A second after I hit the ground, I saw the player I was just fighting with a pleasantly surprised look on his face. Taking advantage of the new opportunity, he smashed my lower abdomen with his mace, taking off a chunk of my HP. _Damn, that hurt! Oh, no, where's Sachi?! _

"Get off of him!" I heard a familiar voice behind me. The next instant, I saw Klein releasing his Embracer melee skill right to the player's left cheek. The red samurai sent him flying for about two meters, knocking him out in the process.

"Here, don't scare me like that again, you idiot! Heal!" He commanded, healing crystal in hand. I saw my HP and status return to normal a split second later. "Go help your girl! One of those bastards picked a fight with her, she might need help."

As soon as I got up, I ran over to get that son of a bitch off of my girlfriend. Releasing a war cry, I charged my Vorpal Strike skill and hit him right in the middle of his chest. I took a quick glance at Sachi's HP bar to see it in the low yellow. I'm not letting that bastard get away with that. I released skill after skill on the red player, not giving him a chance to recover. About 10 seconds after my initial strike, I managed to wear his HP down to the low red. _Good. You're gonna get what you deserve, you damned criminal._ After I broke his weapon into bits, I charged a Howling Octave and released it, not wasting a single moment. _Wait, Kirito! What are you doing?! This isn't the mission! NO! It's too late!_ The 8th hit found its way to his heart, taking off the last few points of his HP. He shattered into the bright cloud of glass shards before disappearing completely. Before I could process my actions, I saw a small, familiar throwing knife fly past my face, missing by mere centimeters. Once I used a healing crystal on Sachi, I looked around trying to find the knife thrower. After seeing another knife fly through the air, I found the same player that first inflicted me with paralysis about 5 meters away. Before he could find another target, I rushed over and slashed one of his hands off in an instant. Soon enough, I felt the same rage that boiled inside me only moments ago. With Sachi watching my back, I released a fury of low-level skills, determined not to make the same mistake as the last time. Ignoring the remaining knives on his belt, he pulled out a medium-sized one handed sword off of his waist. We clashed swords for about two minutes, landing minor hits on each other, but neither of us being able to make a decisive blow. After another minute or so, I gained the upper hand and was able to knock him down to about 20% of his HP. Right when I was about to give one last combo, I heard a cry from about 15 meters away.

"Agh! Somebody! Help!" I turned to see that Ducker was the source.

"Lucky bastard!" I cursed to the one-handed knife thrower. Before I could stun him and pass him off, he disappeared from sight. Taking a quick look in Ducker's direction, I saw the dagger user enter the red zone after a nasty hit. Keita was helplessly watching as he lay on the ground a few meters away, paralysis in effect.

"Sach! Help Keita! I'll help Ducker!"

_15 meters _

_Come on, kid, you can hold him for a few seconds..._ The red player slashed Ducker with a Slant._ Damn! That was one nasty hit. Just a little longer..!_

_10 meters_

_Good, he stuck him back pretty hard._ The lone black cat nailed a two-hit combo on the criminal, knocking him off balance. _There's still a little time... Where the hell did Sasamaru and Tetsuo wind up?!_

_5 meters_

Time suddenly slowed down substantially. I saw Ducker release a mid-level dagger skill that wasn't quite enough to take out the criminal player. With only a sliver of his HP left, he released a Horizontal on the little thief, sending his HP to zero. After he finished off one of my best friends, he turned to flee and probably heal somewhere.

_Not so fast._

_Zero meters_

"You.. bastard!" I roared as I gave him a Vertical Arc across his back. Suddenly, I had a flashback to the time Ducker and I almost died back on Floor 27. The look of utter fear on his face when he saw the Elementals and Miners spawn all around him. How he still fought on, even on the brink of death until the danger subsided. That day, he showed me a courage I had never seen before, even from any of the clearers. Not only would he face danger head on, but he'd also fight tenaciously as long as he could. I can only imagine how he felt taking on this guy one-on-one. _That does it. He's not seeing the virtual sun again._ With speed that could only be topped by a sword skill, I slashed him across the chest a few times before landing a final Vertical to the top of his head. I pulled my sword out of him once I saw the last bit of red disappear on his health bar. All he had time to do was grab his skull before he shattered into millions of bright polygons.

I turned to Keita, who was getting back to his feet and picking up his weapon. Luckily, Sachi was able to give him an antidote and healing crystal while I handled Ducker's assailant. They saw what I did, how quickly I did do it, and how I had no remorse in doing so. I'm sure they'd understand.

"Go find the others. Get them out of here. The rest of the crusaders are mopping up the few who decided to surrender and sending them to the prison now. I don't want any surprises. Our job is done here," I ordered them firmly. The pair nodded and ran off to the others.

The Elucidator fell to the ground as I dropped to my knees, staring down at my hands. It was only now that I realized what I'd really done.

_I killed two people not even three minutes ago. I was capable of stopping myself, but why didn't I? One of them was even out of cold blood.. What's going to happen now? Am I going to have to kill again..?_

Thoughts and questions clouded my mind for a few minutes until I finally managed to pull myself together. Since the fighting had ended while all of this was going on, I decided to rendezvous with the remaining Black Cats outside the dungeon. As I made my way back outside, I saw Klein and one of his guild mates pulling one last rat out of the hole. Lind and one of his subordinates made sure the few captured didn't get away.

"Thought you could get away using your Hiding Skill, right, you fucking bastard?!" He spat as he dragged him along. It's the one I had let go earlier!

"Oi, Black Swordsman!" He called. _What the hell does he want?!_ "You almost killed me back there. I was almost scared for a minute, it's a good thing you had other business to attend to. That poor kid. He was your age, wasn't he?" His words stung with every syllable. Who is he to be scared?! That poor excuse for a person murdered God knows how many players! How many players would he have killed if we hadn't stopped him today?! It took all of my self control to keep myself from slashing that smug look off of his face.

"Anyway, since you effectively beat me back there, I thought I'd tell you my name. I'm-"

"I don't want to know your name. There's no need because I don't want to meet you again," I interrupted, my voice sounding a lot more calm than I felt.

I took off back to where the remainder of the Black Cats were resting, Ducker's equipment resting in front of them. His black boots, his orange poncho and Damascus Steel chest plate, black beanie, gray pants, and finally, the Whitewyrm Fang Dagger with the Ebon Dagger on top. Everyone was silent, tears staining their faces.

"I wasn't fast enough... it's all my fault.. I couldn't save him.." I muttered as I fell to my knees again, this time to his equipment.

"Kirito!" Sachi and Keita rushed to comfort me. Why?! "Look, it wasn't your fault... the one that took him had paralyzed me and was probably stronger than him. It was my fault for letting it happen. He was my partner in this fight, not yours. Plus, you avenged him, that bastard didn't last five seconds when you got a hold of him. It'll be okay.. it's all over now.. thank you for saving me," Keita continued as the pair patted my back. I hid my hands in my face to keep them from seeing don't get it! He's gone! I came close to losing Sachi, too... if I hadn't taken care of that other player when I did, she might not be here right now. I'd lose the biggest reason I have to go on in the game..

"Aggh.. my head..." I moaned. I suddenly felt really dizzy and began seeing everything go blurry. _What's going on..? _In the next few seconds, the dizziness got substantially worse and I felt a throbbing sensation in my skull. The pain was unbearable, but thankfully short-lived; I fainted soon after.

* * *

"Kazuto..! Kazuto.!" the feeling of somebody patting my face greeted me upon gaining consciousness. _Where am I..? How long have I been out? Did I wake up from the game?_

"Sugu..? Is that you? Where's mom..?" I was barely able to ask the feminine figure hovering over me.

"Kazuto, wake up!" the figure continued. "Hey, help me out here! He's almost back" she called behind her.

"This just might help," another voice joined in. The next second, I felt what might have been a bucket water being dumped on my face. Nope, I'm not back in the other world.

"Agh! I'm up!" I exclaimed as I sat up in the bed, drenched in virtual water. If there's one thing that's astonished me about this world, it's how realistic the water feels. I looked around the room to see Keita, Sasamaru, Tetsuo, and Sachi all around mine and Sachi's bed. Where's D- oh, that's right...

_I have to forget what happened last night. If I don't, it'll just keep coming back to haunt me._

"Now that you're awake, I think we should get to introductions," Tetsuo chimed in, "I'm Akifumi, Keita's name is Daichi, Sasamaru is Ichiro, and Ducker's name w- is Mineto. I'm pretty sure you know Sachi's real name, so I'll just leave it at that. We'd honestly prefer it if you called us by our avatar names while we're stuck here. I hope that's not a problem."

"It's not, I completely understand. I'm Kazuto. Wait, why tell me all of your names now?"

"*sigh* We lost Ducker in the assault. He didn't know your real name and you didn't know his. Sadly, we won't be able to see him on the other side again. We all know each other back in the other world, but you never knew all of us. We just thought it'd be nice if we all knew who we all were, just in case we made it out of here."

_That's probably not really why, but I'll take that answer. _"Haha, I guess you're right, that was really kind of you guys. Hey, can I maybe... get an hour to rest up..?"

"Well.. you've already been sleeping for about 20... but.." Keita began.

_Oh, come on. It's not like I _wanted_ to be out cold for 20 hours._ I couldn't help but give him a cold stare.

"I'm kidding, man. You did great out there," He said with his hands up, "I'm gonna go get dinner prepped, anyone wanna help?"

While the three guys headed downstairs to get that taken care of, Sachi came over to her side of the bed and crawled next to me.

"Hey, so, umm... how'd the assault turn out..?" I asked. As much as I would hate to hear any bad news, I need to know what I happened. Once I know, then I can do whatever I can to forget what happened.

"Well, we ended up capturing about 10 members from the murder guild, give or take one or two, and the clearers ended up killing a little over 20 of them..." She paused for a moment, then continued, "I guess it wouldn't have happened any other way... We lost 11 clearers today, 4 from the Knights, one solo player, Ducker, and the remainder from the DDA. Word is they all went down fighting. On the bright side, we'll never have to worry about the Laughing Coffin again."

_My God.. over 30 players?! I wonder if anybody else I knew was in that list... _

"Th-thank you!" She threw her arms around my sides and dug her head into my chest. I was able to tell she started crying as soon as she did so. "You saved both me and Keita back there... I saw you go down after that knife while you were fighting that other player and tried to go and help you, but I was attacked by another before I could do anything. He was a lot stronger than I expected him to be, since he was able to wear my HP down pretty quickly. Then you came in and took care of him.. I'm sorry I made you have to do that.. I'd already gotten over my fear of dying, but I'd never been more scared of that than I was then.. I want to be able to really spend time with you in the real world! To feel your real arms around me, the real you next to me, and look into your real eyes! I don't want to die here!"

_Wow.. she was shaken up pretty badly by all this.. I just wish I could take the sadness away.._

Without thinking, I turned to Sachi, placed my hand on her chin, and pulled her in for a kiss. She seemed a little surprised at first, but didn't hesitate any. We held our kiss for a long moment, slowly tightening our grip on each other while holding it, not wanting to let go. When we finally did, we both collapsed in a manner similar to that of the evening I'd confessed.

"W-what was that for..? I loved it in every way, but where did that come from..?" She asked slowly without moving.

_I'm not too sure.. Where _did_ that come from? All the fear of losing her, anger towards the assailant, relief of saving her, and the happiness of being able to see her after that mess. The rage from avenging Ducker. I guess that's where it came from._

About a moment later, I responded: "I.. I did it because.. I'm afraid of losing you.. I thought that if I did that and held you close, that you'd never leave my side. During the assault, I almost did lose you. I was terrified... And like I said before, you won't die because I'll protect you as best as I can. When we make it out of here, we'll go on real dates, and spend every second we can together."

"R-really..?" Sachi asked as I wiped her tears away.

"Really," I answered.

"Hey, Kazuto... can we take a break from the top floors..? From boss fights, from training, things like that..?" she gave me a puppy-dog expression.

"Like a vacation?"

"Yeah... something like that.. I just don't want to have to deal with the front lines after what happened."

"I know what you mean. I'm kinda scared to go back too.. You know, on the southwest part of Floor 22, there's a Western-style log cabin in the forest close to a lot of lakes. Maybe.. maybe.." _Just say it, idiot! You know there's nobody else you'd rather ask in either world! You've been dating her for over 7 months and she loves you as much as you love her! Just ask! Hell, maybe she's waiting for you to ask. _"Maybe.. we can spend a few weeks there..?" _Damn it, Kazuto! Pull yourself together! You can do it!_

"R-Really..?" She asked with a new sparkle in here eyes. "I think I might have seen it when we went exploring the higher floors before you joined.. there were a lot of cabins, though..."

"Hey, answer the question, silly! Does that sound good or do you have any other idea in mind..?"

"Mmm... Your idea sounds like a dream.! I can see it now..!" She began as she sprawled out on her back, staring at the ceiling. _Was she trying to forget about last night, too?_ "The long walks through the forest, the swims in the lake, and even fishing!" _Wait, fishing? I remember clearing that floor, but I never heard anything about being able to go fish. _

"Then it's settled, we'll take a few weeks, maybe even a month away from the front lines for a vacation on Floor 22." I said with a sudden cheerfulness.

While Sachi went under the covers to go to sleep, I went downstairs to pitch the idea to the other guys and make a meager attempt at prepping some food for the road. Keita, Sasamaru, and Tetsuo were all for the idea on the condition that they got to come along as well. I didn't have any reason to say no, there's just one thing I need to do before we go...

* * *

**Author's Note: Hey, guys! Sorry I took so long to update, I had a ton of work from my regular and college classes I needed to get done, so I could only work on the story for about one hour per week. I hope the extra length compensates some. Even though this slip-up came completely out of left field, I plan to update whenever I can until I finish the Aincrad arc, though I'm not too sure how long I'll be on this project. I hope you guys like the story so far, it's been both fun and a challenge to write as of yet. I've pretty much abandoned the concept of a Keita/Asuna pairing, since it might not serve the story much, if at all. Still open to any ideas via PM or review. By the way, I'd like to thank all of those who've followed, favorited, and reviewed my story. It really does mean a lot that people actually read and enjoy my work. The lyrics in the beginning were to the song "Not My Time" by 3 Doors Down. A big thanks to Writer's Arcanum for giving me tips to fix a few (well.. more than a few) mistakes in the story! I'm having a couple of family issues going on right now, but I'll try to not take a month to put a new chapter out. Until next time, obscureuser out!**


	4. A Break from the Front

**Author's Note: Hey, guys! Woah! 70 Follows and 52 Favorites! This turned out to be a heck of a lot more popular than I expected it to be! You guys are awesome! Just to prove that I wasn't killed in some freak accident, I thought I'd post what I have so far for Chapter 4. Sorry I couldn't get more done in the seven weeks since last updating, but I had a bunch of papers and mid terms to take care of, and the few opportunities I had to work on this were met with writers block. Enough with my quotidian problems, time to respond to a couple of reviews:**

* * *

_**Now nothing can take you away from me  
We've been down that road before  
But that's over now, you keep me coming back for more  
And baby, you're all that I want  
When you're lying here in my arms  
I'm finding it hard to believe  
We're in heaven**_

_**And love is all that I need  
And I found it there in your heart  
It isn't too hard to see  
We're in heaven**_

_**Oh- once in your life you find someone  
Who will turn your world around  
Bring you up when you're feeling down**_

_**Yeah- nothing can change what you mean to me  
Oh there's lots that I could say  
But just hold me now  
Cause our love will light the way.**_

* * *

**27-August-2024  
****Kurai, Floor 68 Dungeon  
****07:24**

"Yes! Level up!" Keita closed the bright window seconds after it popped up in front of him.

"Damn, these Red Demons really wear on you after a while," Tetsuo panted as he lowered his mace, "How much longer are we gonna be out here?"_  
_

"Well, you three combined have almost col saved up and equipment and items worth 1,500,000. The house you three picked out is worth just over 2,500,000, so that means a hell of a long time," I responded with a half grin. The day after we agreed on a vacation, we all went down to floor 22 to find ideal houses for us. Akemiand I decided we'd rather have our own place instead of living with the Keita, Maru, and Tetsuo, so they went off on their own little adventure. They picked out something compact and functional but with a hefty price tag, which meant a hell of a lot of grinding.

Since about three o'clock this morning, we've been clearing the empty frontline dungeon in hopes of earning the difference, but it hasn't proved as useful as we'd hoped.

"Hey, well you're gonna be out here even longer! Our place doesn't cost 5,000,000 col!" Keita exclaimed, "What's so special about the place anyway? Can't you and Sachi just get something you can afford now? How much do you have saved?"

"We'd originally picked out a place outside a fishing village that we could've bought yesterday, but that one was sold before we could get our hands on the keys. Thankfully, we were able to find a decent cabin on a lake shore pretty quickly. Its rooms are big, it's surrounded by trees, comes with a kitchen, and there's a deck in the back that has a great view of the lake. So far we have a little over 3,850,000 col saved up, whatever I get from this morning's hunt, and spare equipment and items worth a total of about 100,000 col. Oh! Yesterday I sold my house in Algade for 1,000,000, so after everything we should have enough to cover the difference."

"Woah, woah, woah, wait, you sold your house?! Why? And how did you get so much for it?!" A bewildered expression covered his face.

"Yeah. You see," I started, using my fingers to count off, "one, I haven't used the place in months. Two, I probably won't use it anytime soon. Three, I figured I'd enjoy staying in the lake cabin more than the tiny flat. At the same time, I'll be effectively broke after we pay it off and start furnishing it. And lastly, the location picked up the price. The house was close to everything in Algade, reasonably close to the front lines, and was fully furnished." I wiped the sweat off of my forehead when I finished. _Bet you never thought you'd be buying a house with a girl at 15 did you, Kazuto?_ "You guys wanna take a few hours off? I'm getting pretty drained. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night."

"And why would that be, Mr. Kirito? You _did_ go to your room awfully early yesterday!" Tetsuo chimed in with a suggestive look on his face. My face grew ten shades of red while Maru and Keita broke out into loud laughter.

"Agh.. shut up! It's not like that!" Yes, we'd sometimes get carried away when we'd kiss, but we haven't taken _that_ step!

"Come on, give the guy a break," Keita interjected, "I'm sure Sachi gives him a _hard_ enough time as it is!"

The other two glanced at each other before poorly trying to hide their laughter.

_Now what are they laughing about?_

_Oh._

"Let's go," I grumbled. At least they don't tease me like that often...

We all headed back to the guild house on floor 35 where we found the house as quiet and still as we left it several hours ago. Tetsuo and Keita both left to their rooms to properly prepare for the day while I headed up to mine. After changing into my street clothes, I opened the door to find Akemi still asleep and sprawled out all over the bed.

_Haha, she's so cute when she gets like that._

After taking in the adorable scene, I went to go wake up the girl of midnight blue.

"Hey, Sweetie! Wake up! It's almost 8 o'clock!" She began to stir after a few nudges.

"Hmm?" She sat up and stretched in her bright blue pajamas. "Hey, where were you..?" Her voice carried a sleepy tone.

"Out hunting with the other guys. I tried offering, but you wouldn't budge, so we all just kinda went."

"Oh... anything happen?"

"Well for the most part it was uneventful. Hey, guess what!"

"What is it?"

"We almost have enough col for the log cabin!"

"Wait, how?" My last statement seemed to finish waking her up. "I thought we needed over one-million yesterday? We've been doing nothing but clear dungeons for almost a week and got only a fraction of that!"

"Well... remember my house in Algade?"

She moved her unkempt bangs out of her forehead and stretched her arms over her head.

"Yes..." Her eyes narrowed as her head slightly lowered, "What about it?"

"It.. belongs to somebody else now.. I sold it to help cover the difference..."

"No.. You didn't.!"

"Y-yes, I did..." I started to grow nervous, worried that she would get upset.

"Really, Kirito..? You didn't have to do that..." Her confused face melted away, and a small smile formed in its place.

"It's no big deal... we rarely used it anyway.."

"Really now?" She put her arms around my shoulders as she sat upright next to me. "What about that day we told the others we were out hunting while we had actually gone there to-"

"Oh!" I abruptly cut her off, "that's right..." My face turned beet-red when the memory hit me. _You just _had_ to make it difficult for yourself didn't you, Kazuto?_

"It was really sweet, though..." She laid back on the bed, looking at her left ring finger with a smile on her perfect face. "Lisbeth told me you'd ask me and that it was only a matter of time before you did. I'm just glad that you proposed sooner than later."

"Me too... I'm not sure how I would've done it if the others were watching.." I lifted her arms from my shoulders and laid back next to her.

"Why's that?"

"Well..." *sigh* "There was always the possibility of you saying no..." My voice took on a solemn tone. "Plus, they've been your friends for years, well before the game. I didn't know how they would feel seeing one of their group essentially being taken away from them."

"Aww, Kazuto..." She came down so her head would on my shoulder and her arm reached across my chest. "We've been together for the better part of a year, become closer to each other in this world than with anyone in the real world, and saved each other's life on more than one occasion. Why would I say no?"

"I... um... well..." Her sudden display of confidence took me by surprise.

"Exactly," she continued before I could come up with a response, "the only thing that would keep me from saying yes is the fact that we're still fairly young. But in all honesty, don't you think we've matured much more in a year and a half of this world than the same time IRL would offer?" Her voice took on a softer tone. "I know that my feelings for you are real even if it's in a world made of 1's and 0's. Don't you ever doubt that, stupid!"

"Uh- okay, Akemi... I'm sorry... it's just that..." _Damn... how do I put it... _"I was just scared... like I said before.. you're my first girlfriend in the game _and_ in real life.. and.. I didn't really know how to ask..."

"Well... you asked me, and I happily said 'yes', so that's what matters." A bright smile appeared on her face as she rested her hand on my cheek. Next, she pulled me in for a short, gentle kiss.

"I suppose you're right." I returned her smile when we parted and placed my right hand above her left hip. "How about we have a little ceremony or party when we make the marriage official? Maybe we could host it at our new house?"

Akemi's eyes lit up at the thought of my suggestion. "That sounds amazing! Wait, that reminds me! We need to go buy the house before we lose this one too!" Her hand began scrolling through her menu and before I knew it, she was at the door in a green, loose long-sleeve shirt and black pair of pants.

"Hold on! We need to sell the surplus items first!"

"Then hurry up so we can do that! Coming?"

"Yeah! Right behind you!" I jumped out of the bed and followed her out the door.

* * *

We went to the market square in the center of Mische and sold everything we could part with. Every weapon, clothing item, food item, and apparel piece we knew we wouldn't immediately use was exchanged for an appropriate amount of col. In our rush, we nearly sold my signature Blackwyrm Skin Coat to one of the merchants. Thankfully she was a player, so she we were able to clear up the mess. By the end of our market trip, Akemi and I had collected the difference of what we needed, holding a grand total of a little over five-million col.

"Finally! Let's hurry up and get to the house! I can almost feel the money's weight slowing me down..!" Akemi said excitedly as she grabbed my hand an pulled me towards the teleport gate.

"Okay, sweetie, okay! I'm coming!" I answered with a wide smile on my face. Of course, money in the player's inventory has no weight, so somebody can't be over-encumbered from having a full coin purse, but I understood her excitement and didn't want to affect it.

Shortly after we arrived in the center of Coral, we located the town's real estate NPC and asked him for the house. We accepted his offer for one final tour before the purchase and made our way to the house.

"You know, many couples like yourselves have expressed great interest in this property, but all had turned away when they saw the cost. To avoid wasting time, would you happen to have the necessary funds in the event that you select this house?" He asked us as he turned the key in the front door.

"We do!" I answered cheerfully.

"Good. Now let's get on with the tour." He led us into the living room area, then began taking us through each room of the two-story cabin.

On the first floor resided the rather large living room, dining room, full-sized kitchen, a den full of display cases and mannequins, and an outdoor deck fitted with a small bench swing, coffee table, and rocking chair. Based on our other tours, only the den and deck on the first floor have any type of furnishings. Like most houses in Aincrad, the furniture was the player's responsibility to acquire, be it through crafting or purchase.

_Oh crap... the furniture... My furniture! I sold it with the house on the 50th floor! The beds.. sofas.. chests... tables.. chairs.. everything with the new owner. Hell, even the wall decorations are there too. How am I gonna tell Akemi... Damn it, that means more time questing and grinding... Well, let's just get through with the purchase... I'm sure that I can hunt with the guys later..._

"Excuse me," I interrupted the NPC's dialogue about the 'history' of the cabin, "We've made a decision, and we'll take the house."

_You know what? We'll worry about those little things later. Right now, I'm going to buy a house with my fianc__é._

"Are you certain about your selection?" He asked, gesturing to the room around us.

"Wait, Kirito, are we really going to do this..?" Sachi asked, almost surprised with my statement.

"Of course, silly! Where else are we going to invite all our friends when we get married?" I responded boldly.

"I'm just making sure, Sweetheart!"

Sachi grabbed my hand as a system window popped up in front of us.

_Would you like to buy The Forest Escape?_

_Final Cost: 5,000,000 (five-million) col._

_(O) Yes. (X)__ No._

"You can do the honors, Akemi," I said with a smile.

Without hesitating, she hit the "Yes" option and threw her arms around me.

"Congratulations, player. Enjoy the new residence," the NPC said as he handed me a set of keys. I put them away in my inventory and looked at the others.

"Well? What are you guys waiting for? Let's take a look inside!" She exclaimed as she walked towards the house, key in hand.

We all followed suit and walked in the front door.

"Woah... this place is huge!" Tetsuo admired as he and the other guys looked around the room. "What are you guys gonna do with all the space?"

"We haven't decided quite yet, but you guys are still getting your own place!" Sachi answered.

"Yeah, the plan is still up in the air. We still have to go hunting to buy some furniture exclusively for this place. Idiot me didn't think to keep the stuff in my old Algade flat." My hand found the back of my neck while I laughed nervously.

"You what?!" Sachi turned to me with shock in her eyes.

_I knew this wouldn't go well..._

"This'll be good," I heard Keita say under his breath.

"I included the furniture with the house sale..."

*sigh* "Damn it, Kirito...! I thought we were done spending most our days out hunting," she whined.

"It's okay, Sweetie... I'll go to the top dungeon again and hunt until there's enough to get a full set, okay? You can stay here or on Floor 35 and relax."

"Hey, hey, hey, you're not going alone," Keita interrupted, "You know those Red Demon bastards aren't something you take on alone. I'll go with you. Besides, Maru, Tetsuo, and I still have a long way to go to pay off our place."

"Well? What do you think?" I turned to Sachi.

The room was still for a moment; Keita, Maru, Tetsuo and I all exchanged uncertain glances.

*sigh* "Okay... but please hurry.. I'm tired of waiting! You said you'd make it official after we settled into our new house, and now that we have our house, you need to go back to the field?!"

"It won't be long," I said reassuringly as I moved in to hug her.

"Tetsuo, Sasamaru, Kirito, come on! If we hurry, we might secure the best farming spots."

"Got it, Keita. Just wait here, okay Sachi?"

To save time, we all pulled out a teleport crystal and headed right back to Kurai. The walk to the dungeon was pretty quiet for the most part until Sasamaru broke the silence.

"Well what do you know, nobody's here! Looks like this won't take too long."

"Yeah. Hopefully, we won't be here for more than a few hours. After we get enough for Kirito to buy his furniture, we'll work on our savings, got it?"

"No, you guys don't have to do that. I'll get what I need on my own."

_Damn it, I could have definitely found a better way to word that... But at least now I don't have to worry about telling her... _

For the next hour or two, we slayed Red Demons until we wore out the system's reproduction rate of the creatures. Once that moment came around, the four of us decided to simply clear out the dungeon, then teleport back to Coral. Near the top of the dungeon tower (which came out to about 4 hours after our decision to clear Kurai's dungeon), we found a long hallway that led to a room of brilliant crystals.

"Don't go, it might be a trap. You guys remember the Floor 27 labyrinth," Keita cautioned us.

_Of course I remember, you idiot. I was only the one who could've saved Ducker that day._

"Aww... but those items could be worth enough to pay everything off," I heard Sasamaru whine.

"Ah think about it, Maru. Are you really gonna make a blatant risk of your life over a few game items?" Keita shot back.

Maru grumbled and put his head down. "Yeah.. I guess you're right."

_Man, you know I can't blame him... I'm pretty tired after having to grind all day. At least I'm pretty much done._

* * *

**Keita's POV****  
**

_Come on, Sasamaru, there'll be more opportunities. At least Tetsuo wasn't complaining. Ahh... still a few more days grinding. How the hell did Kirito get so far so quickly to pay off his house?! I mean, it was worth twice as much as ours and had less help with it!_

Suddenly, Kirito raised his left hand up and used his other to grap the hilt of his Elucidator.

"I know you're there! Come out now, quit hiding!" He demanded into the darkness of the old-style maze.

The rest of us crouched down with our weapons out and ready. I gripped my Nobleman's Halberd tighter for an added sense of security. A halberd is a two-meter staff that's basically three weapons in one: a spear, an ax, and a curved blade. The Nobleman's Halberd, on the other hand, had a hammer in place of the curved blade. Another unique characteristic is the 15cm spike-ball counterweight at the base of the weapon. Isn't Lisbeth awesome?

"What is it?" Tetsuo asked in a whisper.

"Shhh!" Kirito held a finger to his lips and kept looking around.

_What's going on?_

"Creatures of habit, eh, Nox? You all look so surprised. Isn't it about time you fought some real opponents?" A voice called out from somewhere in the cavern. We all exchanged nervous glances before turning our gaze back to our surroundings.

_Who the hell is Nox?_

"Over there!" Kirito drew his Elucidator and pointed to a small alcove about 30 meters away. "Come on!"

The four of us followed the Black Swordsman and arrived at the human-sized indentation in the rock wall in a few seconds. Inside, we found a crouched player wearing a back beanie, a white coat, and a pair of black pants. A large Bowie Knife resided in his hand.

"I'm guessing you want to send me to the Army's prison because of this little sucker right here," he pointed to his orange icon with his knife, "but I'm gonna break into shards before that happens."

_Wait, where have I seen him before..?_

Tetsuo fell to the ground with a loud cry as the orange player jumped past him. A yellow icon next to his health bar showed that he'd been paralyzed.

"Jeff! Jack! Attack now!"

Out of the shadows emerged another five players, all orange cursors.

"Agh! Kill the bastards!" Tetsuo cried with Sasamaru crouched over him.

"Damn it, the crystal's not working!" Maru spat in frustration.

_Oh no, this is bad..._

"What the hell do you guys think you're doing anyway, huh?! You know this won't end in your favor, so give up! Unless you wanna fight some of the best clearers and get killed!" Kirito screamed in their direction. Maru stood up and readied his Obsidian Spear. I got in a defensive position in my head and started going over PvP styles Kirito taught us before the Crusade.

_He has an axe, stay away from him. He's got a knife, he's a probable target. That other guy's using a sword, I'll leave him to Kirito. Other two are using maces, I should probably keep those guys occupied while Kirito and Sasamaru pick their targets. They might be weaker than they look, but don't underestimate him._

"Sasamaru, protect Tetsuo," Kirito ordered without breaking eye contact with the leader.

"But Kirito, then you and Keita-"

"Just do it! I'm not taking any chances!"

"You ladies done talking?" Jeff sneered, "We haven't had a kill in days!"

"That does it, Keita! Attack!" Kirito charged a skill and unleashed it on their axe user.

_You heard the man._

The next instant, my Halberd glowed green, and the system sent me into the fray.

* * *

**Author's note: 15 June 2016-Looking back on it, a lot of the word count comes from AN's. I've trimmed those down a bit and tried to make up the difference with additions to the story. Sorry, everyone; I'll work on it. **

**The lyrics in the beginning are from the song "Heaven" by Bryan Adams. A big shoutout again to everyone who's followed and favorited as of yet, it feels great to know that people enjoy my work. Thanks! Any ideas for future chapters are more than welcome via PM or review. Thanks again for all of the support! You guys are the best! Hopefully, I'll have the remainder of the chapter out soon. No worries, it'll be over 6 thousand words like usual. _Ego autem protinus te videre!_**


	5. A Break from the Front Part II

** Author's Note: Hey, guys! I thought that replacing the previous chapter wouldn't be such a great idea, since I'd basically be leaving you guys to constantly check the story for the update, so I decided to just put up a new chapter. I'm sorry for the super long wait, I just never got around to working on the story. Personal things going on IRL and a variety of holidays kept me offline. Having a plan (that I accidentally uploaded with Chapter 4 upon initial publication) definitely helped the speed as opposed to coming up with something new each time. Unlike previous AN's, I don't have a whole lot to say this time around. I'll see you at the bottom!**

* * *

_**I need you right here, by my side  
You're everything I'm not in my life  
We're indestructible, we are untouchable  
Nothing can take us down tonight  
You are so beautiful, it should be criminal  
That you could be mine.**_

_**And we will make it out alive  
I promise you this love will never die!**_

_**No matter what, I got your back  
I'll take a bullet for you if it comes to that  
I swear to God that in the bitter end  
We're gonna be the last ones standing**_

* * *

**27-August-2024  
Floor 68 Dungeon  
16:36**

Ow!_ Crap! That was nastier than I expected._ I checked my HP bar to see 15% of my HP disappear. _Shit! How strong are these guys?!_

"Keita! Help get these guys off my back!" Kirito called from a few meters away.

"In a second!" I readied my Helicopter sword skill, an attack that spins my halberd overhead 720 degrees, and hit the mace user I was engaged on. He was knocked a couple of meters away and didn't get back up after. I guess he was hit with the hammer portion of the weapon.

Just as I was going to go and help Kirito, I froze at the thoughts racing through my mind.

_Just finish him off! He's obviously a player killer! If you don't stop him now, he'll go off and hurt somebody else.. Hell, he's probably coming right for you when he wakes up!_

"Just do it, now's not the time for mercy!" Sasamaru called from his position. He wasn't fighting anybody at the moment, but he was panting and shaking heavily. I soon realized the reason why: a cloud of blue polygons were floating up above him and fading quickly.

_Oh, Maru..._

After taking a deep breath, I charged an Overhead skill and shattered the unconscious criminal.

* * *

**Floor 22, Kirito and Sachi's cabin  
15:20**

_Why aren't they back yet? They've been gone for the better part of five hours! Even when we were racing to join the assault team, Kirito never kept us out in the fields for longer than four without a break. He hasn't responded to any of my messages, where the hell is he? Why are they even out anyway? Oh, right! He sold all of his sofas, chairs, tables, bed, and dressers with the flat in Algade! *sigh* I can't blame him too much... at least it means that he did it because he was eager to move in together in our own house. Just sit down, Sachi, you're worrying yourself too much.. they're some of the strongest players in the game. Kirito's at 93, Keita and Tetsuo are at 84, and Maru's at 82. Nothing's gonna be too much for them to handle, if they stay out of the higher dungeons at least._

I sat down on the back deck's porch swing and pulled out a Record Crystal Kirito and I bought shortly after we began dating. Inside were dozens upon dozens of pictures of moments we deemed worthy of saving: scenery while on dates, pictures of us in action on the front lines (some of which were posed), and even some of us sleeping.

_I wonder if I can transfer these into the real world..._

The smile on my face grew slightly larger every time I turned to a new picture until there was one the crystal pulled up in the end, the most recent shot. In it was Aincrad's Black Swordsman, my Kazuto, in front of me on one knee, silver ring in hand with my birthstone in the center. Even though it was only a picture, it was pretty obvious that he was shaking before and during the snapshot. He was barely able to get the words out before I said "Yes" and pulled him in for a kiss. Just thinking about it gave me butterflies... At the same time, thinking about his proposal now only made me miss him more...

I leaned my head back and tried to think of something to do, ideas deciding that they wouldn't come to me at the moment.

_Wait! There's a forest, you idiot! Just take a walk around! Maybe you can find a lake you and Kirito can spend an afternoon around._

Once I got my combat boots and a white summer dress on, I made my way out to the neighboring forest. Luckily, there aren't many mobs on this particular floor, and my level is four times the floor number, so I had nothing to worry about. Just to be safe, though, I equipped a Dirk to my belt.

I went around exploring for a little over an hour through the trees and grass, listening to the songs the birds sang, the buzzing of insects, and watching how the sun's rays poked through the treetops before I found a small clearing to rest in. The breeze was gentle, there was just the right amount of sunlight, and there weren't any pesky virtual bugs flying around. It almost reminded me of the time Asuna got mad at Kirito and I for sleeping under a tree a number of months ago... Suddenly, I heard a loud rustling nearby.

"Who's there?" I asked as I drew my dagger. I looked around to find the source of the noise, making sure that I didn't overlook anything. As the scenery stayed silent, I tightened my grip out of nervousness. While my skills primarily lie with a lance, Kirito made sure to train all of us in self-defence with short swords, daggers, and even our fists if need be. Since there aren't any mobs in the area, it could only be a player who made the noise.

"I said it once, and I'll say it again! Who's there?!" I got into a defensive position, watching the trees and shrubs around me for movement or a cursor. Suddenly, I noticed a little girl collapse about five meters away from behind a tree.

* * *

**Floor 68 Dungeon  
****16:45**

Racing to Kirito's aid, I took a look at everyone's HP bar in my HUD to find that he already been knocked down to half. Maru and I had about 70%, and Tetsuo was almost completely full. He did a good job defending him.

Kirito had his hands full to say the least: he was taking on a mace user, the first player we came across, and their ax wielder. Their last player sat back up after apparently healing himself. Unfortunately for Kirito, all he could do was parry and avoid their attacks while they slowly wore down his health points.

_Damn, they still outnumber us! Do something, you idiot!_

I broke into a run towards Kirito with my Impale skill charged for the ax wielder when suddenly, I was knocked onto my back. The mace user was stuck in a post-motion delay with a triumphant grin.

I looked on my chest to see Kirito lying perpendicular to my body with his sword a meter away from the two of us. He wasn't moving, and he was stuck in the red zone.

_Holy crap, did they knock him out?!_

"Looks like your Black Swordsman is out of action! That's what the bastard gets for slashing by buddy Jack's face! Time to take out the trash mobs!" Jack, the mace user, sneered as the quartet charged towards me and Kirito. A large, red gash went from his lower left chin up diagonally to his right eyebrow.

"Hey! Get up!" I shook Kirito's shoulders violently. When I saw no reaction, I got up to my feet in a battle stance.

_Shit! Half of us are down and out and the other two are the weaker of the four! Those bastards! I'm going to make them pay!_

As the distance closed between me and the four PK'ers, one of them fell on his back and shattered after a long object impaled his chest.

"Jack! No! Jeff! Go kill the green fucking prick!" The leader with the dagger spat. I glanced at Maru to see him draw a Xiphos short sword from a scabbard on his waist, and his Obsidian Spear nowhere in sight.

_Damn, Maru... He's not gonna be okay after this..._

Not wasting a second, I used the spike ball counterweight like a rifle stock to smash in Jeff's face before he got very far. His Morning Star fell to the ground beside him. He's not getting to Maru _or_ Kirito.

"Stay with Tetsuo!" I commanded. The remaining two continued charging towards me, weapons glowing a variety of colors. The one who must have been Jeff got back up and kept charging at Maru, who was standing over an unconscious Tetsuo.

_Why didn't we teleport out before? If we did, we wouldn't be stuck in this situation right now. I mean, hell, we might not even make it out of here alive! Our best fighters are knocked out, and Maru's forced to fight out of his comfort zone. Assuming that fighting other players was in his comfort zone to begin with. Maybe Kirito would have an answer for all this, but for now, I'm fighting to protect him and myself. Sasamaru's obviously feeling the same way._

While I was doing my best to dodge and counterattack the relentless attacks from the leader and one of his minions, Jeff quickly went to work on Sasamaru, taking off about a quarter of his HP in the minute they've been fighting.

_*Whack*_

_Ahh! Shit, that hurt! Where's my Halberd? Why can't I move?_

I looked up to see the Dagger user in his post-motion delay for the Embracer melee skill, with his sword-using minion slashing at Kirito, who was still unconscious. Even though he has a high level and a lot of HP, he was still losing his hit points at a slow, steady rate from all the slashes. Once he finished cooling off, he walked over and picked up Kirito's Elucidator and tried swinging it around a few times. Jeff had gotten a successful swing at Sasamaru's chest and knocked him to the ground.

The long hallway the cavern created grew silent after several minutes of metal clashing, save for the sound of steel hacking into Kirito and the groans of three knocked out Black Cats. When I checked the Party Status in my HUD, I found Kirito still at 30% and decreasing, Maru at 18%, Tetsuo at 68%, and myself at 40%, with everyone except Kirito stuck with paralysis.

"Natos! Quit hurting the kid in black! I want him to be alive to see his friends die before he meets their same fate!" The dagger user called to the orange player in gray.

"Yes, Grim!" Natos replied, almost a little too eagerly.

"What have I told you about calling me by my name?! You are to refer to me as 'Sir' or 'Lord', you incompetent piece of data!" Grim roared. Natos cowered slightly before nodding.

"How do you like these suckers right here?" He turned to me and gestured to a set of brass knuckles on his right hand. "Drago's Fist here doubles damage done by melee skills, and passively inflicts status issues on whoever I happen to use them on. Anything I punch with them, I destroy. I didn't want to tell that little secret to just anyone, but seeing as to how that piece-of-crap NerveGear is gonna fry your brain before you walk out of here, what do I have to lose?"

"Gah! Ah! Ah!" Sasamaru cried out in pain as Jeff began dealing right hooks to his face.

"You. Fucking. Think. You. Can. Get. Away. With. Killing. My. Pal. Jack?!" He would say in between punches. With each blow, Maru's HP would dip slightly lower into the red zone.

_Damn it, we're a bunch of sitting ducks!_

"Hahaha, you know, I'm honored to be the one to shatter the notorious Black Swordsman. With his own weapon, too! He held his own really well when he fought several of us at once, I just thought he'd put up a better fight. Keita, was it?" He lifted my chin with the tip of his Bowie Knife and moved his head closer as if he were examining me. On impulse, I spat in his face, hitting him in his left eye.

"Ah! You son of a bitch!" Grim picked me up by the collar and began pounding into my head with Drago's Fist, chipping away at my HP with every blow. I don't know how much he's invested in his STR stat, but his punches felt like a sledgehammer slamming into my temple. It didn't take long for my vision to grow dark and cloudy and for a ringing to set into my hearing.

"Ha, the little bastard must've passed out from the pain!" Jack laughed as he took a step back from Sasamaru. He only had about 5% left and was seated against the wall.

"Leave him alone!" A new voice called out.

"Boss, did you hear that?" Natos asked, looking around the cavern.

"I heard," Grim responded. With a thud, I fell on my back to the ground. My HP was hovering around 20% and my vision growing even more blurry. On the ground next to me was Kirito's Elucidator, its hilt fairly close to my chin. "It's probably a couple of idiot players screamin' at the mobs. You know how they get."

_Maybe if the paralysis wears off... No, I probably don't have enough Strength points... Then again, anything's worth a try at this point._

"There they are! Akagi! Get the guy with the Morning Star! Kaga! Hit the bastard with the short sword! I'll take Grim! Soryu, Hiryu! Get those other guys outta here!" The same voice echoed in the cave.

"Fuck! They're here! Boys, get ready to fight!" Grim commanded.

"And the other players?! He's almost dead! Can't I just hurt him a little more?" Jeff called.

"He's not going anywhere! You can kill him after we take care of these vigilante bastards!" Natos answered.

"I hope you don't mind if I use this," Grim said as he picked up the Elucidator. His sleeve came up slightly and exposed a small logo: an open coffin with a pair of smiling lips in the centre.

_That bastard! I can't say I'm all that surprised, but they survived the crusade?!_

_Ahh.. my head... Damn it, not again! Now another person's gonna die... again.. on my... watch..._

The sounds of metal chashing and the feeling of being dragged were the last things my mind registered before everything went black.

* * *

**Kirito's POV  
16:50**

"Oi, buddy, you alright there? You guys look like you got beat up pretty badly. You lose anyone?" A distant voice asked. My vision was still slightly clouded and the ringing in my head wasn't as bad, but the pain in my head hasn't gotten remotely better. I stood up and saw that not only did everyone in my party have a full HP bar, but that none of us had any status problems. Tetsuo and Keita were lying nearby, still out cold, while Sasamaru sat up against a wall hugging his legs while his knees were in his face. Four players with green cursors were walking around the area, as if they were standing guard. The orange players were nowhere in sight.

_Damn, my head is killing me... What did I do?! I almost got everyone killed! If I hadn't had us stand and fight, we wouldn't have gotten in this mess.. The other guys would be buying their house, and I'd be somewhere on a lower floor getting furniture with my Akemi..._

"Hey, buddy, you alright?" The voice asked again, this time, coming from right next to me. The player was a few centimeters taller than me, had a slightly bulkier build, and was wearing what looked like an ancient set of armor. On his torso was a set of steel shoulder and chest plates over chain mail armor, an armored skirt hung from his waist down to his knees, and leather sandals were on his feet. In one hand was a Scutum tower shield, and in the other was a Spatha long sword.

"Yeah, thankfully... No, none of us were killed, but one of us took a big beating," I responded, unable to take my eyes away from his armor. In all my time in the Beta and front lines, I'd just never seen something like it before.

"I saw, the guy sitting over there in the fetal position? I wouldn't bother him for a while," He said, giving a weary glance to Maru.

"Why didn't anyone wake me up earlier?"

"We tried, but we couldn't. Then the guy in green said we should just let you and the others wake up before we did anything else. That begs the question: Who are you guys?"

"I can ask you the same thing." I suddenly felt the urge to reach for my Elucidator on my back. Who's to say they're not here to finish us off since the other guys didn't? Wait, where's my Elucidator?!

"My sword!" I exclaimed, my eyes scanning the ground around me for the blade.

"What?"

"My sword! Where is it?!" I turned to the one who woke me up.

"What's it look like?"

I gave a short description of the long, black blade, and sure enough, one of the other green players came up to me with it.

"You know, that bastard Grim tried taking a few swings at me with this thing. I guess there was something wrong with it, since he ditched it and used his Bowie Knife."

"Well thanks for returning it." I put the sword back in its scabbard. "Who are you guys anyway?"

"Who are you?" He asked in response.

"Sorry man, I asked first."

"Well, seeing as to how we're the ones who saved you and your guild, I think I should receive an answer first."

_Damn, this guy isn't a pushover. Then again, who is in this game?_

"We're called the Moonlit Black Cats. We're one of the clearing guilds, maybe you've heard of us before. I'm Kirito, one of the frontmen. The one in purple is Keita, I think he was the last one to go down of all of us. The one against the wall is Sasamaru, or Maru for short, and the one in the blue is Tetsuo," I answered.

"We're Interfector Venatores, it means 'Killer Hunters' in Latin, depending on where you get your translation. I'm Nox, the leader. I started the guild about a week or two ago to hunt down red players and imprison them, or kill them if the situation goes south. So far, we've sent almost 10 to prison. We hadn't had to kill anyone until today. What were you guys doing down here?"

"Wait, you knew those guys?!" I snapped, remembering the words exchanged before the fight.

"Well we didn't know them per se, what do you mean?" He asked, putting his hands up and taking a step back.

"Grim was calling out a player named Nox before he knocked out Tetsuo, saying that you never fought any skilled players. If you and your gang were following them and knew their location, why the hell didn't you jump in before we almost got killed?! Now two of my best friends are unconscious, one of them is traumatized, and nearly a half dozen players were killed! They would've surrendered if they were drastically outnumbered!"

"Hey, listen, kid! If you hadn't engaged them on impulse, none of this would've happened! If I remember correctly,you never said 'thank you' for saving you and the others! Besides, those guys don't surrender! They either run, fight 'til the end, or fight 'til they kill who they're fighting! And they sure as hell weren't doing the first two!" He shot back.

"Hey, there's no need for you two to be arguing. The fact of the matter is that the ex-LC members are dead and none of the green players were lost. Let's just leave it at that and get out of here," one of Nox's friends jogged up and pulled us apart. He was about my height wearing another unconventional armor set: a Corinthian helmet on his head with a red plume of hair on top, a titanium chest plate adorned with scales over his lower abdomen, metal greaves on his shins, and leather sandals. His weaponry consisted of a spear-and-short sword set and a large, circular shield made of leather and steel. The others were dressed in a similar fashion, but with different weapons. What's up with these guys?

*sigh* "Fine, I guess you're right, Kaga," said Nox.

"Yeah, we should just wait for the others to wake up. I just needed to ask though, what's with the five of you? That's a pretty weird armor set on each of you guys," I asked.

"Are you serious? We get that all the time..." Kaga put his hand up to his forehead. "Your turn to explain it, Nox."

"It's no big deal, you know." Nox turned back to me. "I'm supposed to be a Roman Legionnaire and he's supposed to be a Greek Hoplite. We picked out the armor sets out of personal interest at first, but then it kinda turned into a uniform for IV. That'd explain why the others are dressed similarly. They're pretty quiet though, so they'll probably just keep to themselves.."

"Got it. Hey, Keita and Tetsuo are waking up!" I exclaimed.

"Damn... how long was I out?" Tetsuo groaned as he sat up and rubbed his head. "Is everyone okay?"

" Everyone's fine, thanks to Nox and his guild," I reluctantly answered. The Legionnaire and Hoplite both had a smug look on their faces when I glanced over at them.

"Oi, buddy, I saw you take a nasty beating from that other guy you shattered, and I just wanted to tell you that it probably isn't a good idea to fight only with the spear," one of the other Hunters said to Sasamaru.

"Leave me alone. I don't want to be bothered right now," He responded coldly, not moving an inch.

"Hey, you didn't let me finish. The spear of yours is a good one-handed spear, so you can have something in your other hand. Here, take this," he went through his inventory and pulled out a teardrop-shaped shield with the point on the bottom and a spike in the front, "That should help you when you're grinding or fighting another player. It works pretty well with your Xiphos, too. Go ahead and keep it." He held it out over Sasamaru.

"W-what?" Maru looked up and grabbed the shield, "I can't take it, it's yours. You earned the drop or bought it from another player. I can't just walk off with it."

"Don't worry about it. It's not the only good shield I've earned or bought. Besides, you being able to pull off what you did, you deserve some kind of prize."

"Are you sure.? It looks pretty high end.."

"It's not that high end, but it's a respectable hunk of data when you're in a pinch," the Hunter continued. Maru reluctantly got up and held the shield in a defense position, but didn't seem to be cheered up.

"Look at you! You're already starting to look like a Roman Auxilliary!"

"Thanks... but I just wanna go home. Thanks, though.. ummm. your name?"

"Hiryu. I already know your name, so no need to ask. I hope the shield works out for you," Hiryu bowed and rejoined his other guild mates off in the distance.

Looking back to Kaga, I picked up where I left off.

"I guess payment should be made where it's due," I began. I materialized five Restoration Crystals from my inventory and a handful of coins worth 1000 col each, then offered them to Kaga. "Thanks for everything. I hope it covers what you guys used to heal us, and then some." I turned back to grab the other Black Cats' weapons and handed them to their owners. "Let's get out of here. I think we're done for today."

"Best of luck to you guys. Hey, can I add you to my friends list? In case you get any leads on PK'ers or need help with anything else," Nox asked.

I looked around at my guild mates, then back at the Legionnaire. "I don't see a reason not to."

We navigated through our menus and added each other, then the other Hunters, and pulled up the dungeon map.

"I guess we'll see you guys later on," Kaga waved as we began taking off.

"Yeah, stay safe. Thanks again," I responded.

* * *

"Hey, Maru, are you okay? You still seem pretty shaken up," I asked as we made our way out the exit.

"Okay? _Okay?!_ How do you expect me to be _okay _after I killed three players and got the crap beaten out of me?! We came here to earn money, not fight a gang of criminals! What the hell were you thinking?! What if one of us had gotten killed?! What if _all_ of us were killed?! We all know you're hoping to marry Sachi in the near future, it's no secret. How in the hell do you think she'll feel when she finds your name crossed out back in the Black Iron Palace?! We came pretty damn close to it! Right, Keita?! Even he had to kill somebody today! We were stuck fighting for our own lives instead of getting the hell outta there because you wanted to play hero, right?! It's not the first time either! Going off and doing your own thing back during the crusade and getting Ducker killed!" Sasamaru ranted. Everyone grew silent at his sudden outburst. After a short moment of silence, Maru pulled out a Teleport Crystal and began walking ahead of the rest of us.

"Sasamaru, wait! I'm sorry!" I began. _Was I really trying to play hero? No! I was keeping those players from escaping and hurting anyone else.. _

"Don't even try it! Apologize when you realize what you did! Just because you're the strongest doesn't mean you can do whatever the hell you want and drag us along with you! Our lives matter to us. I'm going to use it to help clear this game, not catch a few criminals. If we clear the game fast enough, we wouldn't have to worry about red or orange players. Forget Floor 22, I'm going home. Teleport, Mishe." He turned back around and burned the crystal before disappearing in a brilliant blue light.

I pulled out the blue crystal as well, hoping to catch up with him and talk this through, but a hand on my wrist stopped me.

"We'll catch up to him. He's not gonna wanna see you for at least a few hours, so let us handle it. I don't like what you did either, but now's not the time to discuss it. Come on, Tetsuo, he's probably heading to the guild house." Keita said. In the next few seconds, both followed were engulfed in a brilliant light and went out to follow Maru.

_Damn it! I didn't do anything wrong... Deep down inside, he knows we did the right thing. It doesn't make him any less traumatized, though. I should go tell Akemi what happened. _

"Teleport, Coral."

* * *

**Floor 22  
****Hundred Lake Forest  
****16:30**

I quickly rushed over to the fallen figure to see what I could do to help. As I got closer to the figure, I noticed that it was a little girl. She wore a light pink dress that went down to her knees and had blackish hair with a fairly round face. I got on one knee and put my dagger away, then picked up the girl to try to get a response. Was it a quest NPC? I hadn't seen a green or orange cursor above her head, nor a question mark indicating a quest. Exactly who is this girl?

_I can't just leave her here... She might get hurt. Yeah, the environment never 'hurts' players in the fact that it doesn't wear at their HP, but it feels awful nonetheless. Maybe I can take her back to the cabin until she wakes up. _

"Hello?" I asked, nudging her shoulders and waving in her face. She let out a soft groan, but did nothing else. If I were to guess how old she was, I'd say 7 or 8. What's somebody this age doing playing SAO? I mean, there are a lot of young players, but the youngest I've heard of was a kid who started playing when he was 12, but that was nearly two years ago! No parent would let a their child of 5 or 6 play a game like SAO even if it weren't a death game. Well, at least the people who aren't this little girl's parents.

_What if she played the game with her parents and got lost? Yeah, it's highly improbable, but let's just remember that a young girl is stuck in this game to begin with._

Seeing no better option, I picked the girl up in a cradle and began heading back to the cabin. About 15 minutes later, I set her down on a sleeping bag in the living room, and headed to the kitchen to get the girl something to eat. I put together a simple soup with a few basic ingredients and went back to the living room to wait for the little girl to wake up. I sat down next to the bag with my legs crossed and began to imagine what Kazuto and I were going to do with the little girl when she woke up. _Maybe her parents are going crazy looking for her. Wait! She's probably from the orphanage on floor 1! I remember hearing something about one that was run by an older player, who would put ads in Argo's paper asking for any donations to keep the place running. Maybe I can tell Kazuto about it when he comes home. In the mean time, I'd better watch after the little girl._

The longer I sat there, the more I found myself noticing her facial features. One thing that shocked me at first was how much she looked like me. Not that she looked like a 16-year-old girl, but instead a significantly younger version of me. _Oh calm down, Sachi. Sometimes, people who are completely unrelated to each other have strikingly similar looks. _

"Hello? Akemi? I'm back," A voice called from the front door.

"Huh? Kazuto!" I answered, rushing up to him and wrapping my arms around him, "How'd everything go? What took you so long? You've been gone with the other guys for hours!" I moved my head from his shoulder and kissed him, trying to welcome him back home. He pulled away a moment later and began walking to the kitchen, removing his battle gear as he walked. He didn't say a word.

"Hey, I'm talking to you.." My heart sunk as I watched him sit against the wall and bury his face in his hands. _Why is he ignoring me? Maybe something's wrong. Wait, where are the others..?_

"Kazuto..? What's wrong.? Where are the others?" I walked over and sat next to him. _They're okay, right.?_

He looked over at me and back to the ground. "They're fine. At least now they are. They're at the guild house right now."

"Why? What happened?"

He took a moment to respond. During the silence, all that could be heard was his odd breathing pattern, then he began.

"Because I almost got them killed! We were hunting when we stumbled across a PK guild and I made us stay and fight them, and almost got us all killed in the process." A few tears made their way down his face as he got up and headed back to the living room. _Why does he keep walking away?_

"Kazuto! Why would you do something like that?! Don't you realize that-" I stopped when I got to the living room and saw him sitting on futon we had brought from the other house. He was looking at the ground again with his hands on the back of his head, both clenched into fists. His entire upper body was shaking, and a small pool of tears formed on the floor by his feet. _Now's not the time to get mad... I need to comfort him..._

"I.. get it, Akemi. Y-you don't need to tell me anything else," he said in between sniffles. _Gosh... He's really beating himself up over this. He looks worse than the time I found him back on floor 1 so long ago.._

I walked over and took a seat next to him for the second time, then put my arm around him and my head on his shoulder.

"Come on, tell me what happened. Everything you remember."

* * *

**Author's Note: Hey, guys! The lyrics up top are to a song called "No Matter What" by Papa Roach. For the sake of my curiosity, does anyone check out the songs I take the lyrics from? I like to think that they act as a teaser to the chapter, but I'm just wondering if anyone ever looks them up. **

**It's been pretty fun to write this chapter overall. My original plan did help me greatly, but as I was typing, the story just kinda evolved into what you just read. There were a few references I included throughout the story that I thought were pretty vague, but if you're familiar with Assassin's Creed III, Rocky IV, or CreepyPasta, I'm sure you'll get them. If not, the Dirk is from AC3, Drago's Fist refers to Ivan Drago from Rocky 4, and Jeff the Killer and the Laughing Jack are from Creepypasta.**

**I hate to break it to you guys, but it's gonna be at least another chapter before Kirito and Sachi get to really meet Yui. Forgive me.**

**I'm just going to apologize for the long wait for the next update, I've been getting really bad with consistency. I'm sorry that I'll take a long time!**

**If there's anything you liked, disliked, or think should go in the next chapter, I encourage you to leave a review or send a PM. I'm always up for feedback, positive or negative. Don't forget to click "Follow" and "Favorite"! Until next time, obscureuser out!**


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